I've been playing Magic off and on since I was a teenager then played in competitive scene around timespiral block and stopped around Shards of Alara. Since then I decided to devote myself to EDH by building highly tuned decks like Animar, Soul of Elements, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, and Marchesa, the Black Rose. Even with tier 1 decks I never played with infinite combos, so you could say I was already running "subpar" card choices. Although my competitive decks were fun to play with, two main issues arose; different power leveled groups made it very hard to justify bringing those decks to play running even more "subpar" cards made the decks less consistent AND those competitive decks were already "Solved". My favorite thing about EDH is the deckbuilding aspect, in which you can create the deck-style that reflects how you like to play and reflects who you are. That being said I was in kind of a slump, until the partner commanders came out of course! Four colors and the fact that they were not totally busted or conformed to linear builds made this a good problem to solve. Why play four colors instead of 3 or 5? Which partners work with the deck? What type of deck should I build? Why not use the four color legends instead of partners? I'm writing this to give you the insight that took me months to test and validate.
Why should you play Thrasios and Ravos?
Strengths
You enjoy playing unusual strategies/generals
You enjoy playing decks with a high amount of synergy
You want to play tokens but not fold to wraths and lack of card draw
You don't want anyone to know what you're up to by just revealing your general(s)
You find partner commanders as an advantage
Weaknesses
Spell based combo wins
Not much else!
Think about this, what if I told you that you can start with a 9 card opening hand instead of 6 in EDH (7 and your commander)? Wouldn't you jump at the opportunity? That's how I looked at partner commanders. More options in EDH, the better, and what could be more efficient than knowing what CMC's you can keep in your opening hand with the guarantee of two CMC's in the command zone? Not much outside of playing every tutor in your deck's colors lol Which partner commanders though? Throughout all my EDH deck building experience I always chose the commander and build the deck around its abilities; however, with partners it was neigh impossible to do that since most of the partner commanders that form four colors didn't have much in the way of overlapping abilities. I had to come at this in a different way, I made a deck first and picked the commanders that fit the synergy of the deck. This viewpoint allowed me to pick the partners that would advance my plan in different aspects of the deck.
In my opinion choosing colors in EDH is all about maximizing what those colors bring to the deck. With four colors I had to think about what WBUG can bring to the table and also cover up the weaknesses that the missing color would introduce. I researched many decks and I saw strong token decks in WG like Rhys the Redeemedand Trostani, Selesnya's Voice but they were susceptible to board wipes and lacking card draw which makes it hard to recover. Then I researched some great zombie lists in UB like Gisa and Geralf and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born but those decks were reliant on individual powerful zombie creatures and were susceptible to graveyard hate also ramp was dependent on artifact ramp. Then I thought to myself "Is there a way to combine two strong deck archetypes?" and then along came The Scarab God and the Amonkhet block which offered token support and zombies outside of UB! Making many zombie tokens per spell meant that I wasn't dependent on a single solid zombie card and the draw and ramp of UG would help me recover from board wipes! Great!
Alternative Commanders
I've done my research and so far I have not seen a deck like the one I've developed, so it's hard to suggest alternate commanders for the same strategy but I will highlight the strength and weaknesses I used to finally settle on Thrasios and Ravos.
Tymna the weaver and Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix - This is a good combination since Tymna encourages attacks and Kydele lets you ramp into your big spells. I found that Kydele was too slow to set up without a haste enabler and Tymna wasn't good enough without my zombies having some sort of evasion.
Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa - While Sidar has plenty of upside in that it lets your zombie horde have evasion while providing some incidental incentive to have your opponents attack each other, Silas provides no synergy since this isn't an artifact based strategy.
Card Draw: Everyone knows that card draw is one of the two pillars of a good EDH deck.
I can't say enough about how good Champion of wits is. Draw 2 with a relevant body for 3 cmc is great (dare you to find better). Discard 2 is good for this deck since our commander Ravos, Soultender and The Scarab God can recur any creature, and various embalm/eternalize creatures can be recurred as well. Varina, Lich Queen is bonkers in this deck for two reasons. She is a Zombie that creates zombie tokens AND card filtering is great! She helps you rebuild after a board wipe and is a terrific mana sink.
Just as important as instant speed removal is instant speed card draw. In comes Mystic Confluence, flexibility is key with this card, most of the time its a counter + draw + bounce. How about instant speed removal and card draw in one card? Here comes Sultai Charm! I would recommend this card in every deck that can run it.
For 1 mana this card does some work and more. Let’s break it down: It’s a Zombie. It makes Zombies. It allows you to instant speed draw. It is relevant at each stage of the game.
Ramp: If card draw was the first pillar then of course the second pillar of a good EDH deck has to be Ramp!
Mirari's Wake is tried and tested. Not much to say except that it does 2 of the 3 things this deck wants to do, ramp and pump. Use caution when running this out as it paints a target on your head immediately. Casting this turn 5 into an explosive turn 6 can be backbreaking, BUT can you kill everyone on turn 6 or will the whole table now turn on you because you have so much advantage? I'd wait and cast this on turn 6+ then cast a Grave Titan hehehe.
Pir’s Whim is straight out of a new set and windmill slams in this deck. Ramp + mass removal is great and another reason green shines in this deck. The additional political angle is just icing on an efficient cake. I don't have to tell you how good Gaea's Cradle is because you're smart and you know it! Mana sinks like Gavony township or even Vault of the Archangel can be game changers when you have enough mana.
Removal: Pack enough or pack it up! I can't stress this enough to new and older players, run more removal!!
If Syphon Flesh looks unfamiliar then I don't blame you. It was only in original commander product and anthologies, however in this deck it's everything you want at five mana. Easy to cast with 1 Black mana symbol, makes your opponents sacrifice their early creatures, generates untapped zombies that scale with the number of opponents. It's all about instant speed answers, to that end Assassin's Trophy should be in every deck that has green and black. Instant speed, any permanent at 2 mana it’s a “no brainer”. Bant charm is instant speed removal and a counter spell! Flexibility is key and Bant charm is exactly where you want to be. Aura Shards is another well-known card to GW token players. Brutal almost every time it's played. Just be careful as it draws hate like no other, but following it up with 3 zombie tokens does feel sweet. Aura Shards can outright shut some decks down so be careful not draw hate outside of the game, remember just because you can play it doesn't mean you should. However, if someone is playing Memnarch make infinite mana steal all your stuff.... windmill slam this down and make them cry please. I love when my graveyard hate cards help my deck with the game plan! Necromancer's Covenant does just that. There's always that one player who utilizes a graveyard strategy right? Crush their dreams and make 2/2 untapped zombie tokens! Want more? Fine then. Sprinkle in some lifelink! I thought when GBx decks got Windgrace’s Judgement it was the best thing since sliced bread…… well…. GBx decks have two staples now lol Windgrace’s Judgement is great here as instant speed flexible answers are a must!
Token Makers: The best Zombie token vs CMC ratio cards I could dig up!
Noosegraf Mob? .25 cent rare you say? This card is sweet in this build. Comes down turn 5-6 and generates a zombie on cast of any spell by any player. So five 2/2's for 6 mana? Yes, please! Best ratio of zombie tokens vs mana cost period. Not even close. Need more convincing? Imagine using this after Kindred Discovery, now the value is off the roof! How about making this come back with The Scarab God as a 9/9 and it'll still be a 4/4 after it dumps all its +1/+1 counters. Great value. Yes, the blue Zombie Undead Alchemist turns your zombie beats into a mill engine. However, before you scoff at the idea of mill as a viable wincon I'd like to point out that it ruins self-milling decks like Sidisi, Brood Tyrant or any deck with Doom Whisperer while netting you zombies. And if it dies, bring it back, if it gets exiled so what? You have several engines at your disposal; this one is just serves double duty as an alternate wincon. Lastly you may have seen me mention this card before just a few times already. The Scarab God, is an all-around beast, however it is mana intensive as you most likely don't want to leave this exposed on turn 5-6 without a way to protect it or use its ability at least once. A timely Path to exile/Swords to plowshares will wreck your God up. He's a wincon all by himself as the life loss towards the end game will be more relevant. The scrying will be potent enough to enable your win next turn. The value he produces will extinguish any hope your opponents had of winning. This guy is the real deal.
More than just pump spells: EDH is all about getting as much value from each slot.
It’s important to understand how each partner fits in your game plan. I mentioned Thrasios, Triton Hero in ramp section but I think it’s obvious that he’s a part of your early set up options. Helping you get to the mid/late game. Ravos, Soultender is your late game all-star. He personifies the other anthems selections of this deck. All the anthems have to pull double duty and this is a recursion engine after all that card filtering has occurred. In the same aspect Gavony Township is a mana sink when you have a few zombies out, makes combat math harder and can save you from time to time. It’s both an anthem and a land. Diregraf Captain is an anthem that acts as a board wipe deterrent, looking to punish the person that wrath’d or a final “gotcha” to someone at a low life total. I'd be amiss if I didn't mention Anointed Procession and Parallel lives. Turn 4 Anointed Procession into turn 5 Liliana’s Mastery turns into a huge board presence. Opponents are pushed into having to wrath your board to keep from your creatures getting too overwhelming to deal with. This is fine since the heat will be taken off of your Anointed Procession which will allow you to rebuild quicker than normal.
Alternate Win Conditions: In today's EDH meta you must be able to close out a game different ways.
The Scarab God is everything this deck wants to do. It makes Zombie tokens, it's incidental graveyard hate, it drains your opponents AND it can set up your next few draws. Undead Alchemist allows you to go the mill route should straight damage be fruitless. We've all been up against that lifegain.deck and there needs to be an alternate route to victory that doesn't include damage. To a lesser extent Wayward Servant provides the ability to keep your life health and out-grind those Propaganda/Ghostly Prison decks.
Utility Lands: All the lands must have synergy with the deck.
The deck's overall strategy is pretty straight forward; ramp, play zombie token generators, pump and swing in. Draw then repeat. But the "next level" thinking revolves around the synergies. On the surface it looks like I took the strength of WG decks that used 1/1's and applied the same strategies around 2/2's. But more so when you think about the zombie token's from embalm/eternalize that benefit from this on a grander scale. Using Anointed Procession and Parallel lives to double ETB effects like Angel of sanctions or Vizier of Many Faces or The Scarab God tokens is when this deck feels overwhelming.
Opening Hand and Mulligans :
What you are looking for is at least 3 mana sources (preferably 3 out of your 4 colors), 1 Ramp card, 1 Draw Spell, 1 Zombie token maker, and 1 Removal Spell. Remember that Thrasios can get you your ramp or card draw as long as you can get to four mana with UG mana early so don't fret.
Early Game :
In the early game, you should ramp and get any of your early creatures down. Thrasios, Triton Hero lives here as he comes down early and ramps/draws cards if you don't have a solid turn four play or you're holding up removal and don't use it at the EOT. Save The Scarab God and Aven Wind Guide until you get some creatures down. Don't be afraid to extend on the embalm/eternalize creatures as they'll come back later. You may need to hold up removal if your meta is super-fast. If you can neutralize their engine, then it should free up time to get into your mid/late game. If your meta is a little slower feel free to play Anointed Procession/Parallel lives on turn 4-5 as they'll do lots of work in the mid and late game to help you rebuild if necessary.
Mid Game :
By now you've hopefully got a decent mana base set up, so now your goal is to cast any of your 5-6 mana zombie token makers as you need to apply pressure and put up defenses. Keep your removal/protection mana up as you'll need to be cautious in your threat management. Making three 2/2's will put you on someone’s threat list, but "they're just 2/2's" should keep you low on that list. Wait on that Ravos, Soultender unless you have to. Use your card draw wisely as you may not have the mana to play those 5 drops as this deck is heavier on. Expect to see a wrath here; no need to panic. All you need is 1-2 spells and you'll rebuild.
Late Game :
Here's where you turn those 2/2's into 5/5 flying, vigilant, indestructible bombs. Utilize pump spells like Liliana’s Mastery or Mirari's Wake and big draw spells like Pull from tomorrow or Sphinx’s revelation. As far as when to cast your commander, this is where Ravos, Soultender lives, an anthem and recursion. Getting big hitters back like Grave titan or The Scarab God. Speaking of The Scarab God, he gives you reach in the form of life drain, card selection with the scry'ing, and his tokens are insane here when you can double them up. You'll have multiple options to close out a game.
Things to watch out for! :
Luckily there isn't much in the way of weaknesses with this deck. Board wipes are quickly recovered from, there is a good amount of removal, exiling the graveyard is bothersome but the token beats will still come. Combo decks are worrisome but if you sacrifice your early push for timely removal you'll find an opening to apply pressure. Then hold up removal/counter magic and just ride your low cmc creatures to slow victory. If you can, politic your opponents to spend resources to give you a turn to cast something effective. The biggest weakness is if you're in a cutthroat meta with multiple combo decks. You won't have time to set anything up and will end up using all your removal.
Set Review Here is where I'll evaluate new cards for potential inclusions!
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I'm really liking this idea! It's like a white Sidisi, Brood Tyrant! Zombies are an amazing archetype and you're going the token route, which is my preferred zombie making route as well. Adding W is great because then you have access to all the white zombie matters cards and Anointed Procession.
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Its like the concept But the mana cost are through the roof. Realistically you'll never spend a turn doing an "Emblam" cost, because if that is all you are doing then you're probably losing. You're going to have to balance out some of the synergy for straight up mana cards, so that at least you can get to some of your pay off cards, in a manner that isn't too late, or not impactful enough.
I'm really liking this idea! It's like a white Sidisi, Brood Tyrant! Zombies are an amazing archetype and you're going the token route, which is my preferred zombie making route as well. Adding W is great because then you have access to all the white zombie matters cards and Anointed Procession.
I'm really glad you like it! I had to look at all the tokens in each GW token archetype and zombies were just big enough to justify this strategy Redundancy is key in our format and a color shifted Parallel lives is very appealing. Like I said in the write up, I wish I could play Sidisi, Brood Tyrant but when I had it in I whiffed too much >.<
Its like the concept But the mana cost are through the roof. Realistically you'll never spend a turn doing an "Emblam" cost, because if that is all you are doing then you're probably losing. You're going to have to balance out some of the synergy for straight up mana cards, so that at least you can get to some of your pay off cards, in a manner that isn't too late, or not impactful enough.
Thank you, and yes you are very right. Sometimes it feels like my mana costs are inefficient, I am always looking to lower my curve so I may just have to make hard cuts. Any suggestions?
Its like the concept But the mana cost are through the roof. Realistically you'll never spend a turn doing an "Emblam" cost, because if that is all you are doing then you're probably losing. You're going to have to balance out some of the synergy for straight up mana cards, so that at least you can get to some of your pay off cards, in a manner that isn't too late, or not impactful enough.
Its like the concept But the mana cost are through the roof. Realistically you'll never spend a turn doing an "Emblam" cost, because if that is all you are doing then you're probably losing. You're going to have to balance out some of the synergy for straight up mana cards, so that at least you can get to some of your pay off cards, in a manner that isn't too late, or not impactful enough.
Thank you, and yes you are very right. Sometimes it feels like my mana costs are inefficient, I am always looking to lower my curve so I may just have to make hard cuts. Any suggestions?
Really depends on your budget But you have a lot of draw cards, and not a lot of ways to convert that into really good mana, so you will always have spells in hand and just not be able to cast out in a timely manner.
Cabal Coffers, as Hour of Promise can fetch up this and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. I know you probably had dreams of getting two Zombies off getting deserts, but you really are more likely to get Gaea's Cradle from Hour of Promise than a desert.
Any mana doubler is good, but the only one that is $$ cheap is Zendikar Resurgent.
OUT Rotlung Reanimator (only 3 clerics in the deck, so very underpowered, although nice on theme) Undead Warchief (without really being able to use the less costing ability for Zombies, the creature buffer is like a "more winning") Altar of Dementia (unless you have an actually infinite combo, not good enough) Huatli, Radiant Champion (seems bad) Novijen, Heart of Progress (you'll never have the mana for this and Cabal Coffers will be replacing it)
You make some good points. In the interest of improvement and lowering my mana curve here are my changes:
IN:
Sakura-Tribe Elder - Early ramp is always good Burgeoning - See above, also lets me dump lands on big draws Mana Vault - Good card is good, lowers curve
Out:
Rotlung Reanimator - On theme but not enough clerics to make it work Undead Warchief - Not enough zombie creatures to get value of cost reduction, pump is win more Altar of Dementia - Works very well with 1 card, isn't instrumental to overall game plan
Explanations of inclusions/exclusions:
HUATLI, RADIANT CHAMPION - New card in for testing, may take out if it doesn't perform Zendikar Resurgent - Good card but too many higher CMC drops already and low creature count for card draw to trigger Cabal Coffers - would include, but don't own one yet
I think the best cards in the deck to make it function on most cylinders are Gaea's Cradle and to a lesser extent Growing Rites of Itlimoc. Probably by proxy Hour of Promise then becomes your most powerful mid game draw. With this in mind, Reap and Sow will be powerful in your deck.
For similar reasons its nice to have at least one all purpose "tutor" card for the deck, and I'm sure its just because they are $$ expensive for the lower casting cost ones that you don't run any, but Beseech the Queen can be got for $3.5 and is great in your deck, because often you might just be searching for that Gaea's Cradle with it, so not worried about number of lands in play.
You are indeed correct in saying that cradle/growing rites are all stars and can make explosive turns I'd like to keep my ramp under four mana unless it has added utility like Hour of Promise. I may add Sylvan scrying instead of Reap and sow
I have a very extensive collection so I do own all the good tutors. I don't have cruel tutor and imperial seal (mostly because they're bad lol) I don't run any because I feel that they take away from the spirit of EDH. When I made ultra competitive decks of course I ran all the tutors because it made it more "consistent". By "consistent" I mean, I'd look for the same cards each time. Made for boring games. The high variance makes it more of a challenge in deckbuilding for me.
As far as cabal coffers, while I can afford it, on principal it's hard for me to justify shelling out that much for an uncommon I'll wait for the reprint in the Masters 25 set coming up. (Speculation)
You are indeed correct in saying that cradle/growing rites are all stars and can make explosive turns I'd like to keep my ramp under four mana unless it has added utility like Hour of Promise. I may add Sylvan scrying instead of Reap and sow
I have a very extensive collection so I do own all the good tutors. I don't have cruel tutor and imperial seal (mostly because they're bad lol) I don't run any because I feel that they take away from the spirit of EDH. When I made ultra competitive decks of course I ran all the tutors because it made it more "consistent". By "consistent" I mean, I'd look for the same cards each time. Made for boring games. The high variance makes it more of a challenge in deckbuilding for me.
As far as cabal coffers, while I can afford it, on principal it's hard for me to justify shelling out that much for an uncommon I'll wait for the reprint in the Masters 25 set coming up. (Speculation)
Thank you for the suggestions!
The deck is looking sweet then. You'll get some pretty busted Zombie hordes. I appreciate a deck that literally can put like 50 Zombies into play with the right sequence.
So far its tested well in various playgroups. I have yet to test it since the small changes I've made to include Huatli, radiant champion. If it doesn't perform I may replace it with Path to Discovery
The beauty of partnership! I like how Ravos supports blue by allowing you to dump creature cards then return them to hand. Do you have difficulty keeping him alive by any chance?
Thank you for the response! I play thrasios early on while I set up so he usually dies to the 1st inevitable board wipe. Ravos comes in towards the endgame and either is alive when I close out the game or the 2nd inevitable board wipe gets him. By then thrasios is only 4 mana and I start rebuilding again but faster.
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Introduction and History
Why Thrasios and Ravos?
Alternative Commanders
Decklists
Deck Tech and Card Choices
Strategy
Changelog
Introduction and History
Think about this, what if I told you that you can start with a 9 card opening hand instead of 6 in EDH (7 and your commander)? Wouldn't you jump at the opportunity? That's how I looked at partner commanders. More options in EDH, the better, and what could be more efficient than knowing what CMC's you can keep in your opening hand with the guarantee of two CMC's in the command zone? Not much outside of playing every tutor in your deck's colors lol Which partner commanders though? Throughout all my EDH deck building experience I always chose the commander and build the deck around its abilities; however, with partners it was neigh impossible to do that since most of the partner commanders that form four colors didn't have much in the way of overlapping abilities. I had to come at this in a different way, I made a deck first and picked the commanders that fit the synergy of the deck. This viewpoint allowed me to pick the partners that would advance my plan in different aspects of the deck.
In my opinion choosing colors in EDH is all about maximizing what those colors bring to the deck. With four colors I had to think about what WBUG can bring to the table and also cover up the weaknesses that the missing color would introduce. I researched many decks and I saw strong token decks in WG like Rhys the Redeemedand Trostani, Selesnya's Voice but they were susceptible to board wipes and lacking card draw which makes it hard to recover. Then I researched some great zombie lists in UB like Gisa and Geralf and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born but those decks were reliant on individual powerful zombie creatures and were susceptible to graveyard hate also ramp was dependent on artifact ramp. Then I thought to myself "Is there a way to combine two strong deck archetypes?" and then along came The Scarab God and the Amonkhet block which offered token support and zombies outside of UB! Making many zombie tokens per spell meant that I wasn't dependent on a single solid zombie card and the draw and ramp of UG would help me recover from board wipes! Great!
2 Thrasios, Triton Hero
5 Ravos, Soultender
Creatures (27)
1 Cryptbreaker
1 Deathrite shaman
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Metallic Mimic
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun
2 Wayward Servant
3 Champion of Wits
3 Diregraf Captain
3 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Wood Elves
4 Aven Wind Guide
4 Josu Vess, Lich Knight
4 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Undead Alchemist
4 Varina, Lich Queen
4 Vizier of Many Faces
5 Angel of Sanctions
5 Mulldrifter
5 The Scarab God
6 Grave Titan
6 Noosegraf Mob
7 Overseer of the Damned
Artifacts (7)
1 Nihil spellbomb
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Thought Vessel
3 Chromatic Lantern
5 Eldrazi Monument
1 Dark Salvation
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Painful Truths
3 Toxic Deluge
4 Pir's Whim
4 Supreme Verdict
5 Syphon Flesh
Instants (13)
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Arcane Denial
2 Assassin's Trophy
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Bant Charm
3 Dream Fracture
3 Krosan Grip
3 Sphinx's revelation
3 Sultai Charm
5 Windgrace’s Judgement
5 Mystic Confluence
6 Dig through time
Enchantments (7)
3 Aura Shards
3 Curse of Disturbance
4 Anointed Procession
4 Parallel Lives
5 Liliana's Mastery
5 Mirari's Wake
6 Necromancer's Covenant
Planeswalker (1)
5 Liliana, Death's Majesty
Lands (37)
0 Alchemist’s Refuge
0 Ash Barrens
0 Bayou
0 Bojuka bog
0 Command Tower
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Flooded Strand
0 3x Forest
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 Gavony Township
0 Ghost Quarter
0 3x Island
0 Marsh Flats
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Phyrexian Tower
0 3x Plains
0 Polluted Delta
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Savannah
0 Scrubland
0 3x Swamp
0 Temple of the false gods
0 Tropical Island
0 Tundra
0 Underground Sea
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Vault of the Archangel
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Windswept Heath
0 Gaea's Cradle
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Sol Ring
2 Thrasios, Triton Hero
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Thought Vessel
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Wood Elves
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Pir’s Whim
5 Mirari's Wake
Card Draw: 13
1 Skullclamp
1 Cryptbreaker
2 Thrasios, Triton Hero
3 Sphinx's revelation
3 Sultai Charm
3 Champion of Wits
3 Painful Truths
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Varina, Lich Queen
5 Mulldrifter
5 Mystic Confluence
6 Dig through time
0 Ghost Quarter
1 Dark Salvation
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Arcane Denial
2 Assassin's Trophy
3 Aura Shards
3 Bant Charm
3 Dream Fracture
3 Krosan Grip
3 Sultai Charm
5 Angel of Sanctions
7 Overseer of the Damned
Mass removal: 6
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Toxic Deluge
4 Pir's Whim
4 Supreme Verdict
5 Syphon Flesh
5 Windgrace’s Judgement
Graveyard Hate: 7
0 Bojuka bog
1 Deathrite shaman
1 Nihil spellbomb
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
5 The Scarab God
6 Necromancer's Covenant
Token Makers: 15
1 Cryptbreaker
1 Dark Salvation
3 Curse of Disturbance
4 Varina, Lich Queen
4 Josu Vess, Lich Knight
4 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Undead Alchemist
5 The Scarab God
5 Liliana, Death's Majesty
5 Liliana's Mastery
5 Syphon Flesh
6 Grave Titan
6 Noosegraf Mob
6 Necromancer's Covenant
7 Overseer of the Damned
0 Gavony Township
2 Metallic Mimic
3 Diregraf Captain
5 Liliana's Mastery
5 Mirari's Wake
5 Eldrazi Monument
5 Ravos, Soultender
Other Token Enhancers: 6
0 Vault of the Archangel
2 Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun
2 Wayward Servant
4 Anointed Procession
4 Parallel Lives
4 Aven Wind Guide
Alternate Win Conditions: 3
2 Wayward Servant
4 Undead Alchemist
5 The Scarab God
Strategy
Set Review Here is where I'll evaluate new cards for potential inclusions!
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you are interested in my other decks please click on the links below:
Xantcha Parasitic Voltron: Coming Soon
Tatyova Uncommon wins: Coming Soon
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
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Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I'm really glad you like it! I had to look at all the tokens in each GW token archetype and zombies were just big enough to justify this strategy
Thank you, and yes you are very right. Sometimes it feels like my mana costs are inefficient, I am always looking to lower my curve so I may just have to make hard cuts. Any suggestions?
Also keep in mind that i have Cryptolith Rite, Gaea's Cradle, and Growing Rites of Itlimoc that can produce huge amounts of mana.
Cabal Coffers, as Hour of Promise can fetch up this and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. I know you probably had dreams of getting two Zombies off getting deserts, but you really are more likely to get Gaea's Cradle from Hour of Promise than a desert.
Any mana doubler is good, but the only one that is $$ cheap is Zendikar Resurgent.
IN:
Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Dryad (can be reused with Ravos, Soultender)
Cabal Coffers
Zendikar Resurgent
OUT
Rotlung Reanimator (only 3 clerics in the deck, so very underpowered, although nice on theme)
Undead Warchief (without really being able to use the less costing ability for Zombies, the creature buffer is like a "more winning")
Altar of Dementia (unless you have an actually infinite combo, not good enough)
Huatli, Radiant Champion (seems bad)
Novijen, Heart of Progress (you'll never have the mana for this and Cabal Coffers will be replacing it)
Anything which allows you to play out additional lands is really good, because you have some busted ways of drawing lots of cards potentially: Exploration, Burgeoning, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul-Daya, Sakura Tribe-Scout.
Cards I'd put in without a budget:
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
IN:
Sakura-Tribe Elder - Early ramp is always good
Burgeoning - See above, also lets me dump lands on big draws
Mana Vault - Good card is good, lowers curve
Out:
Rotlung Reanimator - On theme but not enough clerics to make it work
Undead Warchief - Not enough zombie creatures to get value of cost reduction, pump is win more
Altar of Dementia - Works very well with 1 card, isn't instrumental to overall game plan
Explanations of inclusions/exclusions:
HUATLI, RADIANT CHAMPION - New card in for testing, may take out if it doesn't perform
Zendikar Resurgent - Good card but too many higher CMC drops already and low creature count for card draw to trigger
Cabal Coffers - would include, but don't own one yet
Thank you once again for suggestions
For similar reasons its nice to have at least one all purpose "tutor" card for the deck, and I'm sure its just because they are $$ expensive for the lower casting cost ones that you don't run any, but Beseech the Queen can be got for $3.5 and is great in your deck, because often you might just be searching for that Gaea's Cradle with it, so not worried about number of lands in play.
Diligent Farmhand is similar enough to Sakura-Tribe Elder. Can be used same way with Ravos, Soultender.
Save those pennies for a Cabal Coffers, you will not regret it
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I have a very extensive collection so I do own all the good tutors. I don't have cruel tutor and imperial seal (mostly because they're bad lol) I don't run any because I feel that they take away from the spirit of EDH. When I made ultra competitive decks of course I ran all the tutors because it made it more "consistent". By "consistent" I mean, I'd look for the same cards each time. Made for boring games. The high variance makes it more of a challenge in deckbuilding for me.
As far as cabal coffers, while I can afford it, on principal it's hard for me to justify shelling out that much for an uncommon
Thank you for the suggestions!
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
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