Tribal Zombies. Fill graveyard with zombies. Reanimate them all with fun stuff like Patriarch's Bidding and Zombie Apocalypse. Nom on opponent's brains with giant zombie horde. Thraximundar is an alternate win condition and general good dude.
2) Rooftop Storm. It lets me play all my zombies for free!
3) Mono-black ramp. This deck can cast all its spells with one red source, two blue sources, and the rest black. I figured might as well go for the mono-black ramp if I'm so heavily invested in that color. Cabal Coffers, Nirkana Revenant, and Caged Sun are heavy black ramp cards to cast my spells.
I find the lack of Gravecrawler surprising. You have Rooftop Storm, so there's no reason not to run it. Skullclamp is also good in this case, and works well with your Zombie token producers.
If your opponents run a good amount of nonbasic lands, Anathemancer can provide some nice supplemental damage, especially if recurred a reasonable number of times. Just try not to unearth him, since you have enough ways to recur him without the exile clause.
Add in Gravecrawler and Phyrexian Altar. With the storm out you can get infinite mana of any color. Even without the storm you can have infinite etb/ltb triggers, making Thrax really big, getting a lot of triggers off Noxious, kill all your opponents with the Diregraf Captain, or enable a storm win with Tendrils of Agony or Grapeshot
"Some of the other guys dared me to go out, but I knew it weren't no ordinary giant giga-blasting blaze of unending flames that would scorch the whole world."
—Norin the Wary
I didn't put Gravecrawler in because I thought a 2/1 can't block is pretty bad in EDH. He admittedly works very well with Skullclamp and sac outlets. That's three cards to find room for.
I really like Tombstone Stairwell! I'll need to find room for it.
Anathemancer is pretty good for pure damage. I had Lightning Reaver in here before too for a similar role, but I eventually cut it because of no space.
Ruins is a flat upgrade to the Crag, especially since I don't need many red sources. Bauble is a Rampant Growth, which is better than Vault because it fetches me a swamp, which synergizes better with my mono-black ramp package. Sedris, well I don't like exiling my creatures, so I cut him and instead put in Undead Gladiator, which I want to test out. He's a zombie, he's a slow but reliable cycling effect, it could be good. Tombstone Stairwell is AWESOME with Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Captain and just awesome in general. Consecrated Sphinx, well, it's the best blue draw card in the game so..
I anticipate that I'm going to need Mana Vault back. My deck is woefully low on early drops and some early accel could be very useful.
I've been fine-tuning this deck. I've found that, since I'm mostly a mono-B deck, casting UU spells are difficult so I've been cutting back on them. Consecrated Sphinx is still in there due to its raw power but I'm going to be cutting it for Necrologia and see how that works for me.
Pontiff of Blight is an allstar in multiplayer. It's one of the precious few ways to gain life and can end the game in a similar fashion as Vengeful Dead once my black mana ramp is online.
Jhessian Zombies isn't quite as good as Twisted Abomination, but he still fetches me dual lands and is still a zombie, so that's all I really need. Fantastic card.
Wheel of Fortune, obviously fantastic. A friend was selling a bunch of cards and I picked this one up with the rest.
Homeward Path is a meta inclusion because people love reanimating or blue stealing other people's creatures. I want my creatures back, thanks!
I had a game last saturday. 7-player EDH, a big one. Lazav theft deck, Sliver Queen control, Braids counters + giant creatures, Progenitus super friends, red Akroma voltron / redstuffs, Borborygmos land combo, and me.
Things start slow. I have no early ramp other than a Solemn Simulacrum, no tutors, but a lot of card draw + discard. Unfortunately I can't find many zombies to pitch to the graveyard! The board is locked down by Borborygmos using a combo of Bloodfire Colossus + Mimic Vat to keep the board clear while taking everyone down to ~20 life. I eventually tutor for Chaos Warp to stop that. Then Sliver Queen becomes the main threat, ramping heavily with mana rocks, dropping Ral Zarek, and starting to draw cards. All I'm doing is swampcycling with Jhessian Zombies and repeating the process with Lord of the Undead.
Thankfully the board gets wiped of artifacts and enchantments and I finally find a tutor for Cabal Coffers to start the big ramps. I drop Pontiff of Blight, Army of the Damned, and Vengeful Dead, threatening to win next turn. Reaper King puts down Gideon, Champion of Justice, getting to 28 loyalty counters off my army. The table manages to kill Vengeful Dead and then wipe my board. Braids uses Blatant Thievery to steal a bunch of things, most notably Gideon, threatening to ult him next turn and still be left with a 13/13 indestructible beatstick. Reaper King luckily responds with his own Gideon to kill with legend rule, then hits a huge Genesis Wave and unloads planeswalkers and Humility, making it near impossible to take down. Contagion Engine threatens to let him ult multiple times next turn.
My old Thraxi list ran a Grave Defiler, which I found was a great way to fill my hand up with zombies. Also, since you have blue, I think more looting effects would help you keep reanimation in hand and zombies in the graveyard. I like Careful Study and the versatility of Izzet Charm.
Also, you look to have only about 5 red cards. As you say, it's a mostly mono-black deck, I can't help wonder why go grixis at all? The red cards don't add any particularly essential value to your strategy like a Goblin Bombardment combo or a multiple attack step strategy. Why not cut it out for Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and keep your manabase more consistent?
On a meta note, my group runs a Sigarda, Host of Herons Enchantress deck that wreaks Thraxi, but to combat it, I have found that the Grotesque Hybrid is a great on-theme answer to that annoying angel.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
My old Thraxi list ran a Grave Defiler, which I found was a great way to fill my hand up with zombies. Also, since you have blue, I think more looting effects would help you keep reanimation in hand and zombies in the graveyard. I like Careful Study and the versatility of Izzet Charm.
Grave defiler looks pretty weak by itself. It'll probably draw into one zombie but it's not likely to hit a second. If it had a bigger body I'd consider it.
As for more looting effects, I'm thinking about either adding Careful Consideration or Necrologia. Those are big draw spells.
Also, you look to have only about 5 red cards. As you say, it's a mostly mono-black deck, I can't help wonder why go grixis at all? The red cards don't add any particularly essential value to your strategy like a Goblin Bombardment combo or a multiple attack step strategy. Why not cut it out for Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and keep your manabase more consistent?
It used to be U/B but I was running low on good quality zombies to choose from. Splashing red lets me get access to some great cards and Thraximundar as my general. Thraxy is way better than Grimgrin on its own, unless you're pushing hard for combo. Haste is so good.
The manabase is pretty consistent already but I've paid the price to upgrade it recently.
On a meta note, my group runs a Sigarda, Host of Herons Enchantress deck that wreaks Thraxi, but to combat it, I have found that the Grotesque Hybrid is a great on-theme answer to that annoying angel.
Thankfully this is not the case in my meta. There's a Karador deck that runs Sigarda but no dedicated Sigarda voltron deck. For those decks you need a big Noxious Ghoul play or just run some board wipes, No Mercy, or Forcefield. Forcefield is the most reliable hoser to voltron decks imo.
Big update to the deck. I bit the bullet and upgraded the manabase at the expense of my wallet's happiness. I haven't tested the new lands yet but it's clearly an upgrade to an already pretty consistent manabase.
The lands are straight upgrades. It speeds up the deck and increases the amounts of swamps in play so I don't always have to fetch urborg to really abuse cabal coffers effects. Unfortunately, it turns my ~$200 deck into a ~$700 deck, but whatever.
Endless ranks of the dead is a card I never wanted to see. It's a win-more card that takes too long to get going and is useless when you don't have a big board presence. I only kept it in here this long because it oozes flavor and has amazing card art, but no more. I've temporarily added stranglehold to the deck instead, which is a great hoser in my meta but I'm not greatly attached to it. I may replace it for either careful consideration (if my new manabase can handle UU better) or necrologia (i'm wary of the lifeloss but it does look sick).
I also need to get rid of Call to the Grave, another card that I never want to see and does something my general already takes care of. Cards I may consider are the aforementioned card draws or Torpor Orb.
Torpor Orb is a huuuuuge hoser against 99% of the EDH decks out there. It affects some of my creatures too but not many. Very tempting inclusion.
There's also No Mercy. People don't like Thraxy killing their stuff so I often hurt back. No Mercy would be a huge deterrant and save me some life, which I sorely need considering I have very little lifegain.
I'll need to make room for the new M14 rare zombie, Liliana's somethingorother. That one looks sweet.
Wheel was a clunky card in my deck. I don't usually want to use it early because there's stuff in my hand that I don't want to discard, and lategame it's helping my opponents out about as much as it helps me. I usually like tutoring for Whispering Madness when I need some wheel effects and get to use it twice in one turn.
Call to the grave is something I've never wanted in my hand. It was an easy cut.
Careful consideration is my card draw replacement. It looks great. I'm hoping UU gets easier to cast with the upgraded manabase. Otherwise I might replace it for Mystic Remora or something.
Necrologia looks really sweet here. Draw 10, boom! The lifeloss could be risky though.
I'm thinking about swapping out my beautiful looking foil Rune-Scarred Demon. He's another 7drop and isn't a zombie. I love that foily art but I don't think he fits.
Torpor Orb is SUCH a hoser against 99% of EDH decks. I really want to run it. It still hurts me though, hitting about 6 creatures (excluding the demon). Some of them like Grave Titan it doesn't bother much, but stopping Noxious Ghoul could be an issue. I may have to try it.
Demonic Collusion is a tutor with a buyback I actually like, discarding zombies, fetching Zombie Apocalypse, win.
Grixis Sojourners looks a little janky at first but it's a zombie, decent body, cycles so you can recur it, and built in GY hate seems very relevant in EDH.
Leechridden swamp has been used for its trigger.. never. It's only hindered me by coming into play tapped.
Rune-scarred demon, while amazing and gorgeous as a foil, is an expensive non-zombie in a deck filled with expensive things. I'm taking it out for one of the new sweet M14 zombies that I picked up during the prerelease.
The last game I played I ended up losing because an opponent developed a big scary army and crushed me because I couldn't figure out how to board wipe. Tutoring for Noxious Ghoul was not enough. This has convinced me that I need an on demand, no nonsense board wipe that I can tutor for when necessary. Enter Damnation. My god, that pricetag compared to Wrath of God. Not fair! Stranglehold got cut for it because it's a fantastic hate card and that's it. There's no underlying synergy with the deck, so out it goes.
I still need to find room for Lifebane Zombie. Not sure how good it'll be but I feel like it should hit more than it misses. Getting a random Sun Titan or Sylvan Primordial is pretty sweet for a 3drop.
I love the deck! Thrax is one of my favorite generals, especially with the zombie theme.
Does youre playgroup use modified edh rules? Typically, while hybrid mana symbols may be played with either colour mana, they contribute both colors to the card's color identity, which includes the color of any mana symbols in the card's rules text..
Unless your playgroup plays w/ modified rules Crypt Ghast and Pontiff of Blight can't be used because of the white in their hybrid mana symbol in the rules text.
My apologies. I wasn't aware this had been ruled on. I disagree with the ruling, but you are correct.
Well, think of it this way: if the Extort mechanic was as common as Trample or other stuff then it wouldn't have the reminder text on it, and you wouldn't see that B/W hybrid symbol at all.
Glad to see another tribal zombie deck around! Here some suggestions, take what you will:
Geralf's Mindcrusher. For 6 mana, and his small one (two with undying) time mill effect, I would say he's unneeded. You already have Geth, Lord of the Vault and Lich Lord of Unx in your deck for your milling needs, but I don't think milling is what you want to be doing. If you want to replace it with a more synergistic 6-drop, I would re-add Sedris, the Traitor King to your deck, with the option of adding a few more sacrifice outlets that would work well with unearth effects, and go well with Vengeful Dead and Diregraf Captain. If you would like a cheaper alternative that would help with your damage plan, the already mentioned Anathemanceris a cheap and easily abusable damage dealer.
If you like the interaction of Deathbringer Thoctar and Death Baron to machine gun boards, I would give Basilisk Collar a try. It's cheap, usable with the plethora of large creatures you have, and makes Thraxy that much more dangerous. Also tutorable with Trinket Mage, but it's not a zombie and I understand wanting to stay on theme.
I notice you don't run any other land hate besides Helldozer. Have you thought about cards such as Strip Mine and Tectonic Edge? They couple well with your Crucible.
Fatestitcher might be something you want to look into as well. Being able to untap your Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, other lands and applicable zombie lords, as well as being able to tap problem permanents your opponents control is more valuable than it sounds. It also has an unearth for just one U!
It looks like a very heavy list, but seeing as how you have kept it this way for so long it must work! Have you thought about including Rise of the Dark Realms? With your mana capacity it shouldn't be hard to set off.
Glad to see another tribal zombie deck around! Here some suggestions, take what you will:
Geralf's Mindcrusher. For 6 mana, and his small one (two with undying) time mill effect, I would say he's unneeded. You already have Geth, Lord of the Vault and Lich Lord of Unx in your deck for your milling needs, but I don't think milling is what you want to be doing. If you want to replace it with a more synergistic 6-drop, I would re-add Sedris, the Traitor King to your deck, with the option of adding a few more sacrifice outlets that would work well with unearth effects, and go well with Vengeful Dead and Diregraf Captain. If you would like a cheaper alternative that would help with your damage plan, the already mentioned Anathemanceris a cheap and easily abusable damage dealer.
Geralf's Mindcrusher is for self-mill actually. The idea is for him to help fill my yard with more zombies to set up mass reanimation while providing a good beater for defense/offense. I've never drawn him in the ~15 games I've played so far though, so no clue how effective he'd be! You're right, he is on the expensive side, and the fact that he's not black works against Balthor the Defiled.
I never liked the Unearth mechanic because of the exile effect. I want to recur my zombies over and over after each board wipe, so losing the creature permanently is unappealing. That's why I ditched Sedris at least. Anathemancer is interesting. I'll have to try it out.
If you like the interaction of Deathbringer Thoctar and Death Baron to machine gun boards, I would give Basilisk Collar a try. It's cheap, usable with the plethora of large creatures you have, and makes Thraxy that much more dangerous. Also tutorable with Trinket Mage, but it's not a zombie and I understand wanting to stay on theme.
Another good suggestion. Thrax draws a lot of hate due to his aggro nature so some extra lifegain would be nice. I like that it's on the cheap side too.
I notice you don't run any other land hate besides Helldozer. Have you thought about cards such as Strip Mine and Tectonic Edge? They couple well with your Crucible.
In my playgroup at least, I don't need much land hate. Whenever I need a Gaea's Cradle or whatever destroyed I just tutor up Helldozer. My swamps are precious to me because they're essential to all my ramp sources, the coffers effects. The more non-swamps I draw the more often I have to spend a tutor for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Oops, forgot to cut Crucible from the list. It hasn't been in my deck since I cut out the Wheel cards. With my current stock of draw + discard cards, I ditch the zombies and keep the lands and reanimation.
Fatestitcher might be something you want to look into as well. Being able to untap your Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, other lands and applicable zombie lords, as well as being able to tap problem permanents your opponents control is more valuable than it sounds. It also has an unearth for just one U!
I really like this! I'll temporarily remove Mindcrusher for it to test.
It looks like a very heavy list, but seeing as how you have kept it this way for so long it must work! Have you thought about including Rise of the Dark Realms? With your mana capacity it shouldn't be hard to set off.
He'd be an expensive inclusion to an already high curve deck, but I think he has the potential to end games. I'd expect him to at least lifedrain for 5 when he comes out. If I have a board stacked with creatures, like after a zombie apocalypse or similar, then it could easily be a lifedrain for ~10. Might be worth it.
EDIT: Alternatively, I can ditch that idea and try to fix my mana curve. Even counting Twisted Abomination and Jhessian Zombies as 2drops (because they are), I'm still lacking in solid early plays to get the engine going. Ideally I want more 1-2drop ramp but I don't want to break the bank buying Mana Crypt. I have a Mana Vault but I'm not sure if it's worth playing without something like Voltaic Key? Maybe Jet Medallion?
Theros is fully spoilered. Time to decide which cards to try out!
Erebos, God of the Dead: I'm fairly certain that I'd consistently have enough devotion to make this guy a creature more often than not. I still don't think he's worth a spot though. I have much better card draw options.
Whip of Erebos: Lifelink is nice in an aggressive deck like this one, but I'm not a fan of unearth since I don't want my stuff exiled.
Nighthowler: Lategame this could easily be an extra 10-15 damage to surprise kill an opponent, and then when the threat is dead I have a 10/10 or bigger on the board. Not bad!
Tymaret, the Murder King: He's a zombie and would really help my mana curve, but I don't see him being good! He's a mana sink that has no real effect on the board, boo!
He'd be an expensive inclusion to an already high curve deck, but I think he has the potential to end games. I'd expect him to at least lifedrain for 5 when he comes out. If I have a board stacked with creatures, like after a zombie apocalypse or similar, then it could easily be a lifedrain for ~10. Might be worth it.
EDIT: Alternatively, I can ditch that idea and try to fix my mana curve. Even counting Twisted Abomination and Jhessian Zombies as 2drops (because they are), I'm still lacking in solid early plays to get the engine going. Ideally I want more 1-2drop ramp but I don't want to break the bank buying Mana Crypt. I have a Mana Vault but I'm not sure if it's worth playing without something like Voltaic Key? Maybe Jet Medallion?
The merchant will be awesome.
On the note of Mana Vault - if you have Fatestitcher in will make the untapping a bit easier. I'm never sad to see Mana Vault in any deck I put it in
[EDH] It's built to be a casual format and to a specific vision, and if you don't like the vision, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's not going to change to accommodate everyone. Big tent is not a goal.
I like both of these very much in my Thraxi deck. Basilisk Collar is awesome with Deathbringer Thoctar, but also great because you are more willing to trade creatures than your opponents and Collar allows you to "trade up".
I'll have to see what I can cut for the Collar then!
My mana base was pretty even and I had only 3-4 of each basic land instead of the 14 Swamp you have there.
My deck is also on the slow side for the first couple of turns. If I have Sol Ring, Solemn Simulacrum, or Wayfarer's Bauble then I'm in good shape, otherwise I need to wait until turn 5-6 until Cabal Coffers starts doing its thing. Burnished Hart is going to help it going though.
I expect Thrax to die. It's fine, he kills something when he is played, maybe two things if he lives another turn. He's not the focus of the deck.
Adding Trisk for the combo is powerful but not what I want to do. Adding infinites is a slippery slope. How much resources do I start committing to finding my combo pieces? Do I add more combos? I currently do nasty things with Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Captain, do I need to break theme to add another combo? I'll say no for now.
Cauldron of Souls isn't needed. Blow up my dudes, I'll just mass reanimate them again.
Adaptive Automaton is too weak. Not black or a zombie so it lacks synergy. Also just buffs and nothing else, while all my other zombie lords have other strong abilities.
Sorin Markov is very good. Doesn't really fit the theme but I've seen him time and time again ending games. He's a maybe if I have a slot to spare.
Exsanguinate is also very good, but I'd rather attempt something more on theme like Gray Merchant.
My deck is mostly Swamps because in reality the deck is mono-B with only a small splash of red and blue. That lets me take full advantage of Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Caged Sun, and Nirkana Revenant. Once I'm at 6+ swamps I have all the mana in the world.
I really wanted crypt to be good but it never is. I need 4 black creatures in my GY before it even does something. Every time I see it, I wish it was a regular swamp so it didn't come into play tapped and it powered up my coffers.
Consideration gets cut because of the UU and I was at a loss at what else to cut. It's a fantastic card for this deck just I didn't like the UU sometimes.
Still need to add Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Basilisk Collar, and maybe Mana Vault.
My deck is mostly Swamps because in reality the deck is mono-B with only a small splash of red and blue. That lets me take full advantage of Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Caged Sun, and Nirkana Revenant. Once I'm at 6+ swamps I have all the mana in the world.
Nekusar is spoiled and there's already a flurry of deck lists to accomodate this clear "build around me" general. I admit, I'm a bit tempted myself. I've seen many Thraximundar lists that did the whole Wheel + Pain idea and I know that they're fun and interactive, and Nekusar puts a proper general for that now.
The nice thing about Nekusar is it compliments my mass reanimation strategy very well. I can constantly wheel everyone's hand, which keeps gas in my hand and a graveyard full of stuff to reanimate. The question becomes though, how much do I need to cut from my zombie theme in order to accomodate Nekusar, and is it worth it?
I'd probably need to redo my entire ramp package since the deck will no longer be mono-black. Many of the zombies will need to be cut, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, as stuff like Lightning Reaver is a bit durdly. Hmmm.
Tribal Zombies. Fill graveyard with zombies. Reanimate them all with fun stuff like Patriarch's Bidding and Zombie Apocalypse. Nom on opponent's brains with giant zombie horde. Thraximundar is an alternate win condition and general good dude.
1 Thraximundar
Ramp
0 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
0 Cabal Coffers
0 Thespian's Stage
0 Vesuva
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
3 Burnished Hart
3 Rings of Brighthearth
4 Undead Warchief
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Crypt Ghast
6 Nirkana Revenant
6 Caged Sun
6 Rooftop Storm
Looting
1 Faithless Looting
2 Necromancer's Stockpile
3 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Dack Fayden
Card Draw
1 Skullclamp
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Graveborn Muse
5 Necrologia
6 Consecrated Sphinx
Tutors
1 Expedition Map
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Jhessian Zombies
2 Twisted Abomination
3 Beseech the Queen
5 Corpse Connoisseur
5 Corpse Harvester
3 Cemetery Reaper
3 Coffin Queen
3 Lord of the Undead
4 Balthor the Defiled
5 Havengul Lich
5 Living Death
5 Patriarch's Bidding
6 Gravespawn Sovereign
6 Geth, Lord of the Vault
6 Zombie Apocalypse
Recursion
0 Volrath's Stronghold
0 Unholy Grotto
3 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Crucible of Worlds
5 Dralnu, Lich Lord
Disruption
0 Bojuka Bog
2 Withered Wretch
3 Chaos Warp
3 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Skinrender
5 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
5 Noxious Ghoul
6 Helldozer
8 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
8 Decree of Pain
Pingers / Combo
1 Gravecrawler
3 Diregraf Captain
3 Phyrexian Altar
4 Vengeful Dead
6 Deathbringer Thoctar
0 Anger
0 Vengeful Pharaoh
3 Death Baron
3 Zombie Master
4 Tombstone Stairwell
5 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
6 Grave Titan
6 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
6 Pontiff of Blight
8 Army of the Damned
Other Lands
1 Bad River
1 Blood Crypt
1 Command Tower
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
1 Rocky Tar Pit
18 Swamp
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
The goal of this deck is to flood the board with zombies and then win with overwhelming forces. It does this in 3 ways:
1) Reanimation. Faithless Looting, Forbidden Alchemy, Dack Fayden, and Fact or Fiction draws and cycles through cards, letting me discard zombies and then bring them back all once with Balthor the Defiled, Living Death, Patriarch's Bidding, and Zombie Apocalypse.
2) Rooftop Storm. It lets me play all my zombies for free!
3) Mono-black ramp. This deck can cast all its spells with one red source, two blue sources, and the rest black. I figured might as well go for the mono-black ramp if I'm so heavily invested in that color. Cabal Coffers, Nirkana Revenant, and Caged Sun are heavy black ramp cards to cast my spells.
Need to Buy: Crucible of Worlds, Vampiric Tutor, Badlands, Underground Sea, more fetchlands, Rings of Brighthearth
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Deserted Temple is a pretty useful land. Helps generate even more mana from Cabal Coffers, or allows for additional Unholy Grotto activations.
Tombstone Stairwell is a personal favorite of mine in Zombie tribal, especially if you control Noxious Ghoul and/or Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Captain. Bonus points if you run Eldrazi Monument alongside it, because of how Stairwell is worded.
If your opponents run a good amount of nonbasic lands, Anathemancer can provide some nice supplemental damage, especially if recurred a reasonable number of times. Just try not to unearth him, since you have enough ways to recur him without the exile clause.
Cockatrice Username: seriph0
I really like Tombstone Stairwell! I'll need to find room for it.
Anathemancer is pretty good for pure damage. I had Lightning Reaver in here before too for a similar role, but I eventually cut it because of no space.
Cutting cards is always the hardest part.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Out: Vivid Crag, Mana Vault, Windfall, Sedris, Wheel of Fortune
In: Sunken Ruins, Wayfarer's Bauble, Undead Gladiator, Tombstone Stairwell, Consecrated Sphinx
Ruins is a flat upgrade to the Crag, especially since I don't need many red sources. Bauble is a Rampant Growth, which is better than Vault because it fetches me a swamp, which synergizes better with my mono-black ramp package. Sedris, well I don't like exiling my creatures, so I cut him and instead put in Undead Gladiator, which I want to test out. He's a zombie, he's a slow but reliable cycling effect, it could be good. Tombstone Stairwell is AWESOME with Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Captain and just awesome in general. Consecrated Sphinx, well, it's the best blue draw card in the game so..
I anticipate that I'm going to need Mana Vault back. My deck is woefully low on early drops and some early accel could be very useful.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Out:
Ancient Tomb, Phyrexian Tower, Tolaria West, Compulsive Research, Careful Consideration, Jace's Archivist, Undead Gladiator
In:
2x Swamp, Homeward Path, Wheel of Fortune, Pontiff of Blight, Jhessian Zombies, Lightning Reaver
I've been fine-tuning this deck. I've found that, since I'm mostly a mono-B deck, casting UU spells are difficult so I've been cutting back on them. Consecrated Sphinx is still in there due to its raw power but I'm going to be cutting it for Necrologia and see how that works for me.
Pontiff of Blight is an allstar in multiplayer. It's one of the precious few ways to gain life and can end the game in a similar fashion as Vengeful Dead once my black mana ramp is online.
Jhessian Zombies isn't quite as good as Twisted Abomination, but he still fetches me dual lands and is still a zombie, so that's all I really need. Fantastic card.
Wheel of Fortune, obviously fantastic. A friend was selling a bunch of cards and I picked this one up with the rest.
Homeward Path is a meta inclusion because people love reanimating or blue stealing other people's creatures. I want my creatures back, thanks!
I had a game last saturday. 7-player EDH, a big one. Lazav theft deck, Sliver Queen control, Braids counters + giant creatures, Progenitus super friends, red Akroma voltron / redstuffs, Borborygmos land combo, and me.
Things start slow. I have no early ramp other than a Solemn Simulacrum, no tutors, but a lot of card draw + discard. Unfortunately I can't find many zombies to pitch to the graveyard! The board is locked down by Borborygmos using a combo of Bloodfire Colossus + Mimic Vat to keep the board clear while taking everyone down to ~20 life. I eventually tutor for Chaos Warp to stop that. Then Sliver Queen becomes the main threat, ramping heavily with mana rocks, dropping Ral Zarek, and starting to draw cards. All I'm doing is swampcycling with Jhessian Zombies and repeating the process with Lord of the Undead.
Thankfully the board gets wiped of artifacts and enchantments and I finally find a tutor for Cabal Coffers to start the big ramps. I drop Pontiff of Blight, Army of the Damned, and Vengeful Dead, threatening to win next turn. Reaper King puts down Gideon, Champion of Justice, getting to 28 loyalty counters off my army. The table manages to kill Vengeful Dead and then wipe my board. Braids uses Blatant Thievery to steal a bunch of things, most notably Gideon, threatening to ult him next turn and still be left with a 13/13 indestructible beatstick. Reaper King luckily responds with his own Gideon to kill with legend rule, then hits a huge Genesis Wave and unloads planeswalkers and Humility, making it near impossible to take down. Contagion Engine threatens to let him ult multiple times next turn.
The turn before Reaper King could win, I use my enormous amount of black mana and available tutors to fetch and cast Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker to get rid of Humility, then, fighting through countermagic, get Yawgmoth's Will off for Rooftop Storm, a bajillion card draw effects, and win with Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Vengeful Dead + Diregraf Captain + loads of zombies to sacrifice to Grimgrin.
Fun!
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WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Also, you look to have only about 5 red cards. As you say, it's a mostly mono-black deck, I can't help wonder why go grixis at all? The red cards don't add any particularly essential value to your strategy like a Goblin Bombardment combo or a multiple attack step strategy. Why not cut it out for Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and keep your manabase more consistent?
On a meta note, my group runs a Sigarda, Host of Herons Enchantress deck that wreaks Thraxi, but to combat it, I have found that the Grotesque Hybrid is a great on-theme answer to that annoying angel.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
Grave defiler looks pretty weak by itself. It'll probably draw into one zombie but it's not likely to hit a second. If it had a bigger body I'd consider it.
As for more looting effects, I'm thinking about either adding Careful Consideration or Necrologia. Those are big draw spells.
It used to be U/B but I was running low on good quality zombies to choose from. Splashing red lets me get access to some great cards and Thraximundar as my general. Thraxy is way better than Grimgrin on its own, unless you're pushing hard for combo. Haste is so good.
The manabase is pretty consistent already but I've paid the price to upgrade it recently.
Thankfully this is not the case in my meta. There's a Karador deck that runs Sigarda but no dedicated Sigarda voltron deck. For those decks you need a big Noxious Ghoul play or just run some board wipes, No Mercy, or Forcefield. Forcefield is the most reliable hoser to voltron decks imo.
Big update to the deck. I bit the bullet and upgraded the manabase at the expense of my wallet's happiness. I haven't tested the new lands yet but it's clearly an upgrade to an already pretty consistent manabase.
Changelog:
- vivid creek, vivid marsh, sunken ruins, drowned catacombs, grixis panorama, terramorphic expanse, evolving wilds, endless ranks of the dead
+ badlands, underground sea, verdant catacombs, marsh flats, scalding tarn, polluted delta, bloodstained mire, stranglehold
The lands are straight upgrades. It speeds up the deck and increases the amounts of swamps in play so I don't always have to fetch urborg to really abuse cabal coffers effects. Unfortunately, it turns my ~$200 deck into a ~$700 deck, but whatever.
Endless ranks of the dead is a card I never wanted to see. It's a win-more card that takes too long to get going and is useless when you don't have a big board presence. I only kept it in here this long because it oozes flavor and has amazing card art, but no more. I've temporarily added stranglehold to the deck instead, which is a great hoser in my meta but I'm not greatly attached to it. I may replace it for either careful consideration (if my new manabase can handle UU better) or necrologia (i'm wary of the lifeloss but it does look sick).
I also need to get rid of Call to the Grave, another card that I never want to see and does something my general already takes care of. Cards I may consider are the aforementioned card draws or Torpor Orb.
Torpor Orb is a huuuuuge hoser against 99% of the EDH decks out there. It affects some of my creatures too but not many. Very tempting inclusion.
There's also No Mercy. People don't like Thraxy killing their stuff so I often hurt back. No Mercy would be a huge deterrant and save me some life, which I sorely need considering I have very little lifegain.
I'll need to make room for the new M14 rare zombie, Liliana's somethingorother. That one looks sweet.
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- wheel of fortune, call to the grave
+ careful consideration, necrologia
Wheel was a clunky card in my deck. I don't usually want to use it early because there's stuff in my hand that I don't want to discard, and lategame it's helping my opponents out about as much as it helps me. I usually like tutoring for Whispering Madness when I need some wheel effects and get to use it twice in one turn.
Call to the grave is something I've never wanted in my hand. It was an easy cut.
Careful consideration is my card draw replacement. It looks great. I'm hoping UU gets easier to cast with the upgraded manabase. Otherwise I might replace it for Mystic Remora or something.
Necrologia looks really sweet here. Draw 10, boom! The lifeloss could be risky though.
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Possible replacements: Torpor Orb, Demonic Collusion, Grixis Sojourners.
Torpor Orb is SUCH a hoser against 99% of EDH decks. I really want to run it. It still hurts me though, hitting about 6 creatures (excluding the demon). Some of them like Grave Titan it doesn't bother much, but stopping Noxious Ghoul could be an issue. I may have to try it.
Demonic Collusion is a tutor with a buyback I actually like, discarding zombies, fetching Zombie Apocalypse, win.
Grixis Sojourners looks a little janky at first but it's a zombie, decent body, cycles so you can recur it, and built in GY hate seems very relevant in EDH.
Decisions!
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+ swamp, liliana's reaver, damnation
Leechridden swamp has been used for its trigger.. never. It's only hindered me by coming into play tapped.
Rune-scarred demon, while amazing and gorgeous as a foil, is an expensive non-zombie in a deck filled with expensive things. I'm taking it out for one of the new sweet M14 zombies that I picked up during the prerelease.
The last game I played I ended up losing because an opponent developed a big scary army and crushed me because I couldn't figure out how to board wipe. Tutoring for Noxious Ghoul was not enough. This has convinced me that I need an on demand, no nonsense board wipe that I can tutor for when necessary. Enter Damnation. My god, that pricetag compared to Wrath of God. Not fair! Stranglehold got cut for it because it's a fantastic hate card and that's it. There's no underlying synergy with the deck, so out it goes.
I still need to find room for Lifebane Zombie. Not sure how good it'll be but I feel like it should hit more than it misses. Getting a random Sun Titan or Sylvan Primordial is pretty sweet for a 3drop.
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Does youre playgroup use modified edh rules? Typically, while hybrid mana symbols may be played with either colour mana, they contribute both colors to the card's color identity, which includes the color of any mana symbols in the card's rules text..
Unless your playgroup plays w/ modified rules Crypt Ghast and Pontiff of Blight can't be used because of the white in their hybrid mana symbol in the rules text.
My apologies. I wasn't aware this had been ruled on. I disagree with the ruling, but you are correct.
Well, think of it this way: if the Extort mechanic was as common as Trample or other stuff then it wouldn't have the reminder text on it, and you wouldn't see that B/W hybrid symbol at all.
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Geralf's Mindcrusher. For 6 mana, and his small one (two with undying) time mill effect, I would say he's unneeded. You already have Geth, Lord of the Vault and Lich Lord of Unx in your deck for your milling needs, but I don't think milling is what you want to be doing. If you want to replace it with a more synergistic 6-drop, I would re-add Sedris, the Traitor King to your deck, with the option of adding a few more sacrifice outlets that would work well with unearth effects, and go well with Vengeful Dead and Diregraf Captain. If you would like a cheaper alternative that would help with your damage plan, the already mentioned Anathemanceris a cheap and easily abusable damage dealer.
If you like the interaction of Deathbringer Thoctar and Death Baron to machine gun boards, I would give Basilisk Collar a try. It's cheap, usable with the plethora of large creatures you have, and makes Thraxy that much more dangerous. Also tutorable with Trinket Mage, but it's not a zombie and I understand wanting to stay on theme.
I notice you don't run any other land hate besides Helldozer. Have you thought about cards such as Strip Mine and Tectonic Edge? They couple well with your Crucible.
Fatestitcher might be something you want to look into as well. Being able to untap your Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, other lands and applicable zombie lords, as well as being able to tap problem permanents your opponents control is more valuable than it sounds. It also has an unearth for just one U!
It looks like a very heavy list, but seeing as how you have kept it this way for so long it must work! Have you thought about including Rise of the Dark Realms? With your mana capacity it shouldn't be hard to set off.
Geralf's Mindcrusher is for self-mill actually. The idea is for him to help fill my yard with more zombies to set up mass reanimation while providing a good beater for defense/offense. I've never drawn him in the ~15 games I've played so far though, so no clue how effective he'd be! You're right, he is on the expensive side, and the fact that he's not black works against Balthor the Defiled.
I never liked the Unearth mechanic because of the exile effect. I want to recur my zombies over and over after each board wipe, so losing the creature permanently is unappealing. That's why I ditched Sedris at least. Anathemancer is interesting. I'll have to try it out.
Another good suggestion. Thrax draws a lot of hate due to his aggro nature so some extra lifegain would be nice. I like that it's on the cheap side too.
In my playgroup at least, I don't need much land hate. Whenever I need a Gaea's Cradle or whatever destroyed I just tutor up Helldozer. My swamps are precious to me because they're essential to all my ramp sources, the coffers effects. The more non-swamps I draw the more often I have to spend a tutor for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Oops, forgot to cut Crucible from the list. It hasn't been in my deck since I cut out the Wheel cards. With my current stock of draw + discard cards, I ditch the zombies and keep the lands and reanimation.
I really like this! I'll temporarily remove Mindcrusher for it to test.
I'm usually exiling my opponent's GY creatures with Withered Wretch, Bojuka Bog, Coffin Queen, Cemetery Reaper, to set up Balthor the Defiled and Living Death. As a bonus it screw up my opponent's recursion plans. I think Rise would conflict with that plan.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm most impressed by Fatestitcher so I'll be testing that one out first. Might swap in Basilisk Collar too for tests.
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This innocent looking common caught my attention: Gray Merchant of Asphodel
He'd be an expensive inclusion to an already high curve deck, but I think he has the potential to end games. I'd expect him to at least lifedrain for 5 when he comes out. If I have a board stacked with creatures, like after a zombie apocalypse or similar, then it could easily be a lifedrain for ~10. Might be worth it.
EDIT: Alternatively, I can ditch that idea and try to fix my mana curve. Even counting Twisted Abomination and Jhessian Zombies as 2drops (because they are), I'm still lacking in solid early plays to get the engine going. Ideally I want more 1-2drop ramp but I don't want to break the bank buying Mana Crypt. I have a Mana Vault but I'm not sure if it's worth playing without something like Voltaic Key? Maybe Jet Medallion?
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Erebos, God of the Dead: I'm fairly certain that I'd consistently have enough devotion to make this guy a creature more often than not. I still don't think he's worth a spot though. I have much better card draw options.
Whip of Erebos: Lifelink is nice in an aggressive deck like this one, but I'm not a fan of unearth since I don't want my stuff exiled.
Nighthowler: Lategame this could easily be an extra 10-15 damage to surprise kill an opponent, and then when the threat is dead I have a 10/10 or bigger on the board. Not bad!
Tymaret, the Murder King: He's a zombie and would really help my mana curve, but I don't see him being good! He's a mana sink that has no real effect on the board, boo!
Burnished Hart: Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Nirkana Revenant, Caged Sun, these are my sources of mana ramp. Getting swamps into play is essential for me to get tons of mana. This is a colorless Explosive Vegetation. Okay, it costs 2 more total, but it's the same deal as Wayfarer's Bauble and I love my Bauble!
This card is absolutely going in!
Gray Merchant of Asphodel: I want to give him a shot, just need to figure out what to cut. Burnished Hart is top priority for me, then him.
One definite inclusion, one maybe. Not bad! Still need to fix that mana curve but Burnished Hart is a step in the right direction.
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The merchant will be awesome.
On the note of Mana Vault - if you have Fatestitcher in will make the untapping a bit easier. I'm never sad to see Mana Vault in any deck I put it in
I recommend the Trisk/Mikaeus combo, Cauldron of Souls, Adaptive Automaton, Sorin Markov, Exsanguinate, and I'll look up the others I have on my old deck list (made during RtR block).
My mana base was pretty even and I had only 3-4 of each basic land instead of the 14 Swamp you have there.
I'll have to see what I can cut for the Collar then!
Yeah, merchant has a real shot of being awesome.
Mana Vault looks good, agreed. It's a source of early ramp that I could use. So two more cards I need to add!
My deck is also on the slow side for the first couple of turns. If I have Sol Ring, Solemn Simulacrum, or Wayfarer's Bauble then I'm in good shape, otherwise I need to wait until turn 5-6 until Cabal Coffers starts doing its thing. Burnished Hart is going to help it going though.
I expect Thrax to die. It's fine, he kills something when he is played, maybe two things if he lives another turn. He's not the focus of the deck.
Adding Trisk for the combo is powerful but not what I want to do. Adding infinites is a slippery slope. How much resources do I start committing to finding my combo pieces? Do I add more combos? I currently do nasty things with Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Captain, do I need to break theme to add another combo? I'll say no for now.
Cauldron of Souls isn't needed. Blow up my dudes, I'll just mass reanimate them again.
Adaptive Automaton is too weak. Not black or a zombie so it lacks synergy. Also just buffs and nothing else, while all my other zombie lords have other strong abilities.
Sorin Markov is very good. Doesn't really fit the theme but I've seen him time and time again ending games. He's a maybe if I have a slot to spare.
Exsanguinate is also very good, but I'd rather attempt something more on theme like Gray Merchant.
My deck is mostly Swamps because in reality the deck is mono-B with only a small splash of red and blue. That lets me take full advantage of Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Caged Sun, and Nirkana Revenant. Once I'm at 6+ swamps I have all the mana in the world.
Okay, so changes:
- careful consideration, crypt of agadeem
+ burnished hart, swamp
I really wanted crypt to be good but it never is. I need 4 black creatures in my GY before it even does something. Every time I see it, I wish it was a regular swamp so it didn't come into play tapped and it powered up my coffers.
Consideration gets cut because of the UU and I was at a loss at what else to cut. It's a fantastic card for this deck just I didn't like the UU sometimes.
Still need to add Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Basilisk Collar, and maybe Mana Vault.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Then why not run Expedition Map instead of Wayfarer's Bauble and you can search for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of a Swamp.
I understand if you want to stay on theme instead of increasing your chance of winning consistently or early; we all have different play styles.
I already run both.
Yep, just different playstyles. Triskelion is a good choice to make the deck more competitive but it's not what I want.
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Fatestitcher
In:
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Nekusar is spoiled and there's already a flurry of deck lists to accomodate this clear "build around me" general. I admit, I'm a bit tempted myself. I've seen many Thraximundar lists that did the whole Wheel + Pain idea and I know that they're fun and interactive, and Nekusar puts a proper general for that now.
The nice thing about Nekusar is it compliments my mass reanimation strategy very well. I can constantly wheel everyone's hand, which keeps gas in my hand and a graveyard full of stuff to reanimate. The question becomes though, how much do I need to cut from my zombie theme in order to accomodate Nekusar, and is it worth it?
I'd probably need to redo my entire ramp package since the deck will no longer be mono-black. Many of the zombies will need to be cut, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, as stuff like Lightning Reaver is a bit durdly. Hmmm.
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