EDIT (3/1/2017): -3x Blood Artist +3 Zulaport Cutthroat
This is the mini primer I wrote and posted on tappedout.com. You can view and playtest the deck here. Thought I'd share this deck here in the forums. I'm actually pretty surprised that nobody has thought of this before. When I built it I was looking at Sam Black's Zombardment builds. Then I saw that by using Blasting Station I don't have to splash any colors for Goblin Bombardment. Keeping it mono black gives you access to Contamination and also keeps your opponent's Wastelands at bay. Also, I was trying to figure out why nobody was running Entomb for Gravecrawler numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8. Not to mention all of the synergies it has with cards like Cabal Therapy and Bridge from Below.
On a side note I'd also like to create discussion on a rebuild of Sam Black's Red Black White Zombardment but leaning more in the direction of my Combo Zombies theme with Entomb, Phyrexian Altar and Burning Vengeance to back up Goblin Bombardment. Burning Vengeance with Goblin Bombardment is absolutely nuts btw!! Anyway, here is the following mini primer. Enjoy!!
COMBO ZOMBIES!!
Hi guys welcome to Return of the Living Dead mini primer! The strategy behind this deck is a mix of both aggro and combo. There are quite of few synergies to the deck and multiple win conditions. Although the deck regularly wins without him, Gravecrawler is at it's core and Entomb is essentially Gravecrawler numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8. Either lock your opponent down with Contamination, set up an infinite zombies or direct damage combo with Phyrexian Altar, control the board and/or deal direct damage with Blasting Station or swarm your opponent with zombies and smash their face with a giant Carrion Feeder.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Your main strategy here is to get Gravecrawler into play with any number of the multiple sac outlets and continually recast him from the yard abusing the sac outlet's abilities. Sac outlets include Blasting Station, Carrion Feeder, Phyrexian Altar and/or Contamination. Combine this with Zulaport Cutthroat in play and/or a freshly Entombed Bridge from Below and you have a mess of synergies which builds up the perfect storm of direct damage, life gain and a horde a of zombie tokens.
WHY PLAY IT?
For starters, with the flexibility and number of win cons this deck is a blast to play.
It's extremely competitive. Just when your opponent thinks they've got you your strategy changes to another win con. Also the look on your opponent's face when you lock them down with Contamination or generate infinite zombie tokens and/or damage with Phyrexian Altar is priceless!!
While not necessarily a budget deck, it's affordable. This particular build of the deck only costs around $360.
CARD EXPLANATIONS:
MEAT!!
Gravecrawler: This dude really needs no explanation. You can attack with him as he's a great one drop with a sizable body, but really 95% of the time you will activate his ability and repeatedly recur him in conjunction with the many sac outlets.
POTATOES!
Entomb: This card is probably the most versatile card in the deck. It not only acts as Gravecrawler numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8 but in the event you already have a Gravecrawler you can tutor up Bridge from Below and combo out a ***** ton of zombie tokens. It also completes your disruption suite being Cabal Therapy, Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize numbers 9, 10, 11 and 12 by offering the flexibility to tutor up a Cabal Therapy and put it in the yard.
DISRUPTION
Cabal Therapy, Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize: These guys, if you drew them in your opening hand are the first thing you will want to cast. They are here to make sure your opponent cannot stop you from setting up your combo. Use these to nab counter magic such as Force of Will, removal spells such as Swords to Plowshares and graveyard hate such as Deathrite Shaman from your opponent's hand. Note they double (targeting yourself) as a means to pitch Bridge from Below in the event that you drew it. Cabal Therapy can also be Entombed in the event you need more disruption and/or in the event you just really need a sac outlet for Gravecrawler.
LOCKDOWN!
Contamination: This card is absolutely bonkers! Finally a Legacy deck that can abuse it. Get it in play with either Gravecrawler or Cryptbreaker and you lock down 90% of the the decks being played in the current Legacy meta.
SAC OUTLETS
Carrion Feeder: This dude is great for obvious reasons. A). He's a sac outlet. B). He's a one drop. C). He becomes enormous. D). He's a zombie.
Blasting Station: This card is a blast to play with. It essentially is the AK47 of the deck and your primary source of creature removal. Sac Gravecrawler to it, recast Gravecrawler, repeat and mow down your opponent and your opponent's creatures.
Phyrexian Altar: Plop this card into play, sac Gravecrawler to it, recast Gravecrawler with the mana you get off it and repeat an infinite amount of times with Zulaport Cutthroat in play or Bridge from Below in the yard and go either infinite zombies or infinite damage. With Zulaport Cutthroat in play you have an auto win but also, if you have a Cryptbreaker in play when you combo out infinite zombies off of Bridge you can actually win right there on the spot as well by drawing your entire deck with his (Cryptbreaker's) ability and then Dark Ritual out a Zulaport Cutthroat for infinite damage. You can actually draw most of your deck and cast one to four Dark Rituals and then cast one to all three Zulaport Cutthroat for infinite damage.
COMBO OUT!
Zulaport Cutthroat and Bridge from Below: As mentioned above. Combine either of these cards with Gravecrawler and do stupid stuff. Note, Bridge from Below is generally to be tutored up with Entomb. You never want it in your hand and you certainly don't want to cast it. Pitch it from your hand with Thoughsieze, Cabal Therapy, IOK or Cryptbreaker.
UTILITY
Cryptbreaker: This guy is necessary for a number of reasons. There is so much utility here. First he's a zombie, and you need zombies to activate Gravecrawler. His card drawing ability is absolutely broken in this deck, you will use it every game you get him into play. It really helps you draw into the combo pieces and mana that you really need to finish off your opponent. His create a zombie ability is nuts here. It does four things. It creates zombies for attacking, blocking and sacrificing. It fixes dead cards. It provides an outlet for you to discard Bridge from Below in the event you have it in your hand. And last but not least it is a two card combo lock with Contamination. Just create a zombie every turn and sac it.
MANA AND RAMP
Dark Ritual, Culling the Weak, Phyrexian Tower and Swamp: Despite the high number of one drops, this deck is mana hungry. You will be using every single last drop of mana every turn. Casting and recasting Gravecrawler will tie up all your mana. Dark Ritual and Culling the Weak are obvious ramp spells to get your three drops in play early, late game pump them into Gravecrawler recursion. Phyrexian Tower is nice as you will often need and won't have a sac outlet but also it adds ramp. The downside is that it becomes an instant Wasteland target. You can play this deck with out it if you feel fit. Just replace with a Swamp.
Hello I stumbled on this when I was looking for the Zombardment thread in here, because I play Zombardment atm but still search for some ideas.
I think this deck has some cool interactions and may be very competitive, but there are reasons why Zombardement was a thing and still is relatively competitive.
First of all, mono black seems a good choice because of price issues with the deck, so you don't need duals, but it also makes your choices with sideboard and mainboard answers relatively small.
No Abrupt decay or anything to destroy enchantments or artifacts on the spot. means Grafdigger's cage and Rest in Peace hurt your deck hard.
Cards to consider are Unearth and Zulaport Cutthroat. Unearth is another "toolbox" to return creatures you need to win which cost 3 or less making Cryptbreaker a lot better. zulaport over blood artist for some reasons: it doesn't target a player, so leyline of sanctity doesn't work and he has 1 attackpower instead of 0...Also maybe Grim Haruspex can win you some games. Unearth can get you diregraf colossus, grim Haruspex, Zulaport Cutthroat/ Blood Artist, Gravecrawler, Carrion Feeder or essentially EVERY creature in your deck back to play, which you can "tutor" for with Entomb.
Also there are reasons why Goblin Bombardment is better than Blasting station, enchantments are harder to kill it costs 1 less to cast and has no tap in it's cost and has to wait until you have a creature enter the battlefield till you can use it again. With boardwipes like Supreme Verdict you can sac all creatures to Goblin Bombardement where you can only sac 1 to Blasting Station.
Hi Heskatet! Thanks for responding. Yes agree with you on much of what you have brought up. Although I think maybe you misinterpreted where I was going with my original post. I wasn't trying to say that the mono-black build was the best but rather it is a good starting point and that the deck can be played mono-black. Contamination really is nuts in this build. And yes, I am fully aware that Goblin Bombardment is better than Blasting Station. I wasn't trying to say otherwise I was just saying that the deck can be played without splashing a color. Also I was asking a question: Is it worth splashing a color just for Goblin Bombardment over Blasting Station? This is at the cost of being more susceptible to Wasteland and Blood Moon, having a less stable mana base, not being able to run Contamination (or making it less useful) and making ramp spells such as Dark Ritual and Culling the Weak less useful? I'm not saying that mono black is the best route, I'm asking if splashing a color for one card is worth it.
I was also trying to generate discussion on other builds that do splash colors into it. I like your idea of splashing green for Abrupt Decay etc... The deck does lack in the removal department. In the mono black build removal is less significant because you have access to ramp spells such as Dark Ritual. They are considerably more powerful in the mono black build of the deck as you can literally set up your combo or (Contamination) soft lock by turn two (thus removal is less necessary). If I were to splash a color I'd likely cut the ramp spells for more land and for more removal giving the deck less of combo feel and a little more of a control feel. Which might be good.
I also noticed that you mentioned that you thought maybe there were too many sac outlets such as Phyrexian Altar, Carrion Feeder, Contamination, Blasting Station, Culling the Weak and Cabal therapy. Trust me. There are not too many sac outlets. I know you feel you are giving me tips here. You are not. You need to play test the deck. Of these sac outlets only Phyrexian Altar, Carrion Feeder and Blasting Station can you use more than once a turn. The deck is starving for sac outlets that you can use over and over during the same turn. If you don't draw one of these three cards you can't abuse Gravecrawler. Adding up the numbers that is only 9 cards: 2x Phyrexian Altar, 3 Blasting Station and 4 Carrion Feeder. Contamination, Culling the Weak and Cabal Therapy I suppose you could call pseudo sac outlets, you can only use them once each turn. They're NOT abusive like the other three with a Blood Artist in play or Bridge in the yard. Just trust me. The deck does not have too many sac outlets.
Btw, I'd really like to generate discussion on splashing red for Burning Vengeance and Goblin Bombardment though. This is the one color I'd really like to splash.
Good call on Zulaport Cutthroat! That's an immediate change to the deck. -4 Blood Artist +4 Zulaport Cutthroat.
Unearth is interesting here in conjunction with Entomb however there aren't really any other cards that share great synergy with it. I suppose Cryptbreaker but honestly his secondary ability doesn't get used quite as much as you might think. The fact that he is a zombie and his card drawing ability is the primary reasons to run him. I use card drawing ability every game. His secondary ability does come in handy but just not as often and certainly not enough to warrant Unearth. Also, Unearth doesn't really grab anything for me that doesn't already just cost one. All of the creatures in the deck are already one drops with the exception of Diregraf Colossus whom I've recently cut in my testing for another Culling the Weak. Also, Unearth is conditional. It does nothing if I don't already have a creature in the yard. I'd much rather just draw into a zombie such as Cryptbreaker, Carrion Feeder or Gravecrawler.
Darkblast is a great suggestion btw! Especially with Entomb and also it appears to be insane with Cryptbreaker as you can use it twice in the same turn to take out Delvers and Deathrite Shaman. I'm going to auto add it to the deck.
Grim Haruspex is a decent suggestion too. I'm going to have to test him out. Really wish he was a zombie!
Thanks for you feedback btw! Also, playtest the deck, just click on that link I provided. I've been testing it against my Canadian Threshold deck and against Goblins and it's 50/50 against both.
What my thought with unearth was, is that you may have situations where you have no zombie in play to cast gravecrawler from the graveyard so this card would give you access to a zombie to play gravecrawler. Also I didn't mean to play unearth instead of a zombie to get gravecrawler but as any additional zombie you want to have.( so it could probably function as cryptbreaker carrion feeder 5-8) these are just thoughts of mine without having played the deck yet.
Also Entomb gets a much higher value as a toolbox if you have unearth available to get any creature you want.( this may only function in a more controllish build rather than in a mor fast combo orientated)
May I ask you why you didn't consider relentless dead in your build? (no offense I'm just curious if you tested him and he wasn't good enough or if you just didn't notice him as a possible card)
So then maybe we should discuss if a splash of color is neccessary or adds something to the deck or if it is not worth. If this is decided you/we should compare the pro's and con's of the colors which are considered to splash.
The most obvious ones seem to be red and green.
So let's look at red:
You have access to cards like lightning bolt, burning vengeance, goblin bombardment, faithless looting (which could support burning vengeance with flashback and unearth) you also get numerous artifact hate in red. Blood moon comes to mind to play sideboardwise along with contamination which is in no way a problem because your nonbasics still support your deck.
Green gives access to abrupt decay, lothleth troll, deathrite schaman,vengevine
Possibilities to hate both artifacts AND enchantments.
maybe from this point it is a personal decision which way someone wanna go from here.
Edit: sorry for having only few cardtags and a "short" answer, I'm on my phone. I'll edit the tags when I'm at home
Sorry for the extremely late reply. I've been extremely busy but I do love this deck. It is competitive and it's a blast to play! Anyway, my thoughts on Unearth is that without Entomb in hand it most like seems that it would be a dead card. But not sure, haven't tested it.
I did actually consider Restless Dead and did actually run them for a while in testing (also tested Diregraf Collossus). Restless Dead was eventually replaced with Crypt Breaker. Both of which combo nicely with Contamination but the cc and versatility of Crypt Breaker proved to be much better. Restless Dead was nice though. Diregraf Collossus was also nice but got cut due to cc as the deck already has too many 3 drops. Maybe he'd be better as a "one of" in the deck if I was running Unearth. Festering Goblin and Black Cat were also tested. Black Cat's cc proved to be an issue so he was also cut for Crypt Breaker and Festering Goblin was cut due to the lack of versatility.
I'm still toying with a black red build for Burning Vengeance. Yes Faithless Looting, Burning Vengeance and Goblin Bombardment seem nuts here! I have a build under development but so far it is lacking big time. Let me know if you want to see it. Also, the other route splashing green seems not bad at all, Abrupt Decay and DRS are ridiculously powerful.
I found this list online, a version of Sam Black's original The Walking Dead. It placed 1st in a MTGO Competitive Legacy Constructed League tournament just over a month ago. 1/30/17
Sure it's doing the same thing I guess, for better or for worse, but maybe you can learn something from this list. There are similar lists posted on MTGOtop8 that placed first as well.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Yeah, Sam Black's Zombardment deck archetype is really what inspired me to start brewing this deck. Then I was looking at Contamination and thought it was just screaming to be in here but would have to make it mono black and that is where Blasting Station came to mind. The second list you posted is really interesting and I also saw that on MTG Top 8. He's running Entomb and also Bridge from Below which was one of my original ideas for the deck. Not sure why he's running two though when if you draw it in your hand you can just pitch it to the yard with Faithless Looting or cast Cabal Therapy on yourself. I'd really like to brew up a build like this one but with Burning Vengeance main deck.
Also, lately I've been testing and Phyrexian Tower usually hasn't been helping all that much. Usually it just becomes a Wasteland target and when it isn't it doesn't really offer that much utility. I'm noticing that the second list you posted he runs two main deck.
3 mana seems like too much, this deck is supposed to be fast
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
You mean for Burning Vengeance? Yeah, it's on the heavy side of cc but when running red you get a lighter mana curve. I remember seeing a Burning Vengeance deck in an Eternal Masters draft that was just stupid good. So good in fact that it got my brewing gears turning. It was a blue red deck with Faithless Looting, Deep Analysis and Burning Vengeance that focused on BV with flashback spells. Anyway, one of my brew ideas was to abuse it with Gravecrawler. And really the deck isn't all that fast, it just suddenly becomes dangerous when your opponent isn't expecting it. It's slightly controlish forcing your opponent to deal with threats and then boom, all of the sudden they're in serious trouble.
Oh that's a good point, and Gate to Phyrexia doesn't help us here if we can't cast zombies to sac to it. I'm thinking either Ratchet Bomb or Powder Keg should replace the Gates. I'd actually like to run at least 3 so I'm going to have to cut something else from the sb to fit them in.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Absolutely. Bayou and fetchlands, plus more sideboard options and you can still keep Contamination. Ancient Grudge you can tutor up with Entomb but you won't be able to play it under Chalice set at 1. Abrupt Decay for sure though. Not only to deal with Chalice but also Counterbalance. Not sure how I didn't think of this. Updating the primer later, have to figure out what to cut from the sb to fit them in. Suggestions welcome.
4x Gravecrawler
4x Entomb
SAC OUTLETS:
4x Carrion Feeder
3x Blasting Station
2x Phyrexian Altar
COMBO OUT!
3x Zulaport Cutthroat
1x Bridge from Below
LOCKDOWN:
2x Contamination
UTILITY:
4x Cryptbreaker
4x Cabal Therapy
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
MANA AND RAMP:
4x Dark Ritual
3x Culling the Weak
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Polluted Delta
11x Swamp
1x Phyrexian Tower
2x Engineered Plague
3x Surgical Extraction
2x Fleshbag Marauder
2x Gate to Phyrexia
2x Fatal Push
3x Mindbreak Trap
1x Pithing Needle
EDIT (3/1/2017): -3x Blood Artist +3 Zulaport Cutthroat
This is the mini primer I wrote and posted on tappedout.com. You can view and playtest the deck here. Thought I'd share this deck here in the forums. I'm actually pretty surprised that nobody has thought of this before. When I built it I was looking at Sam Black's Zombardment builds. Then I saw that by using Blasting Station I don't have to splash any colors for Goblin Bombardment. Keeping it mono black gives you access to Contamination and also keeps your opponent's Wastelands at bay. Also, I was trying to figure out why nobody was running Entomb for Gravecrawler numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8. Not to mention all of the synergies it has with cards like Cabal Therapy and Bridge from Below.
On a side note I'd also like to create discussion on a rebuild of Sam Black's Red Black White Zombardment but leaning more in the direction of my Combo Zombies theme with Entomb, Phyrexian Altar and Burning Vengeance to back up Goblin Bombardment. Burning Vengeance with Goblin Bombardment is absolutely nuts btw!! Anyway, here is the following mini primer. Enjoy!!
COMBO ZOMBIES!!
HOW DOES IT WORK?
WHY PLAY IT?
CARD EXPLANATIONS:
MEAT!!
POTATOES!
DISRUPTION
LOCKDOWN!
SAC OUTLETS
COMBO OUT!
UTILITY
MANA AND RAMP
SIDEBOARD
Currently Playing:
Burning Reanimator
Eldrazi and Taxes
Bug Threshold
Enchantress
Dead Guy Ale
Combo Zombies
Pyromancer Pox
I think this deck has some cool interactions and may be very competitive, but there are reasons why Zombardement was a thing and still is relatively competitive.
First of all, mono black seems a good choice because of price issues with the deck, so you don't need duals, but it also makes your choices with sideboard and mainboard answers relatively small.
No Abrupt decay or anything to destroy enchantments or artifacts on the spot. means Grafdigger's cage and Rest in Peace hurt your deck hard.
Cards to consider are Unearth and Zulaport Cutthroat. Unearth is another "toolbox" to return creatures you need to win which cost 3 or less making Cryptbreaker a lot better. zulaport over blood artist for some reasons: it doesn't target a player, so leyline of sanctity doesn't work and he has 1 attackpower instead of 0...Also maybe Grim Haruspex can win you some games.
Unearth can get you diregraf colossus, grim Haruspex, Zulaport Cutthroat/ Blood Artist, Gravecrawler, Carrion Feeder or essentially EVERY creature in your deck back to play, which you can "tutor" for with Entomb.
Also there are reasons why Goblin Bombardment is better than Blasting station, enchantments are harder to kill it costs 1 less to cast and has no tap in it's cost and has to wait until you have a creature enter the battlefield till you can use it again. With boardwipes like Supreme Verdict you can sac all creatures to Goblin Bombardement where you can only sac 1 to Blasting Station.
So with monoblack you can't get problems out of your way like enchantments or artifacts...
maybe only a greensplash could be considered... it would add things like Abrupt decay Krosan grip Lothleth Troll Deathrite Shaman. Also some sort of removal would be nice, Darkblast adds something to the deck via dredge maybe. Also you have Phyrexian Altar Carrion Feeder Contamination and Blasting Station Culling the Weak and Cabal therapy as ways to sac Gravecrawler maybe too much and you could cut some of them. Also Conatamination Blasting Station Phyrexian Altar and Diregraf Colossus have cmc 3 so you can't play them all together. that's enough of tips for now, I hope I did not write to much =) .
But I think this may have potential! maybe I'll think of a list and post it here if you want
Greetings Heskatet
"Well, then we will at least fight in the shadow"
"There is no glory to be gained in the kingdom of the dead!"
Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy
I was also trying to generate discussion on other builds that do splash colors into it. I like your idea of splashing green for Abrupt Decay etc... The deck does lack in the removal department. In the mono black build removal is less significant because you have access to ramp spells such as Dark Ritual. They are considerably more powerful in the mono black build of the deck as you can literally set up your combo or (Contamination) soft lock by turn two (thus removal is less necessary). If I were to splash a color I'd likely cut the ramp spells for more land and for more removal giving the deck less of combo feel and a little more of a control feel. Which might be good.
I also noticed that you mentioned that you thought maybe there were too many sac outlets such as Phyrexian Altar, Carrion Feeder, Contamination, Blasting Station, Culling the Weak and Cabal therapy. Trust me. There are not too many sac outlets. I know you feel you are giving me tips here. You are not. You need to play test the deck. Of these sac outlets only Phyrexian Altar, Carrion Feeder and Blasting Station can you use more than once a turn. The deck is starving for sac outlets that you can use over and over during the same turn. If you don't draw one of these three cards you can't abuse Gravecrawler. Adding up the numbers that is only 9 cards: 2x Phyrexian Altar, 3 Blasting Station and 4 Carrion Feeder. Contamination, Culling the Weak and Cabal Therapy I suppose you could call pseudo sac outlets, you can only use them once each turn. They're NOT abusive like the other three with a Blood Artist in play or Bridge in the yard. Just trust me. The deck does not have too many sac outlets.
Btw, I'd really like to generate discussion on splashing red for Burning Vengeance and Goblin Bombardment though. This is the one color I'd really like to splash.
Good call on Zulaport Cutthroat! That's an immediate change to the deck. -4 Blood Artist +4 Zulaport Cutthroat.
Unearth is interesting here in conjunction with Entomb however there aren't really any other cards that share great synergy with it. I suppose Cryptbreaker but honestly his secondary ability doesn't get used quite as much as you might think. The fact that he is a zombie and his card drawing ability is the primary reasons to run him. I use card drawing ability every game. His secondary ability does come in handy but just not as often and certainly not enough to warrant Unearth. Also, Unearth doesn't really grab anything for me that doesn't already just cost one. All of the creatures in the deck are already one drops with the exception of Diregraf Colossus whom I've recently cut in my testing for another Culling the Weak. Also, Unearth is conditional. It does nothing if I don't already have a creature in the yard. I'd much rather just draw into a zombie such as Cryptbreaker, Carrion Feeder or Gravecrawler.
Darkblast is a great suggestion btw! Especially with Entomb and also it appears to be insane with Cryptbreaker as you can use it twice in the same turn to take out Delvers and Deathrite Shaman. I'm going to auto add it to the deck.
Grim Haruspex is a decent suggestion too. I'm going to have to test him out. Really wish he was a zombie!
Thanks for you feedback btw! Also, playtest the deck, just click on that link I provided. I've been testing it against my Canadian Threshold deck and against Goblins and it's 50/50 against both.
Currently Playing:
Burning Reanimator
Eldrazi and Taxes
Bug Threshold
Enchantress
Dead Guy Ale
Combo Zombies
Pyromancer Pox
What my thought with unearth was, is that you may have situations where you have no zombie in play to cast gravecrawler from the graveyard so this card would give you access to a zombie to play gravecrawler. Also I didn't mean to play unearth instead of a zombie to get gravecrawler but as any additional zombie you want to have.( so it could probably function as cryptbreaker carrion feeder 5-8) these are just thoughts of mine without having played the deck yet.
Also Entomb gets a much higher value as a toolbox if you have unearth available to get any creature you want.( this may only function in a more controllish build rather than in a mor fast combo orientated)
May I ask you why you didn't consider relentless dead in your build? (no offense I'm just curious if you tested him and he wasn't good enough or if you just didn't notice him as a possible card)
So then maybe we should discuss if a splash of color is neccessary or adds something to the deck or if it is not worth. If this is decided you/we should compare the pro's and con's of the colors which are considered to splash.
The most obvious ones seem to be red and green.
So let's look at red:
You have access to cards like lightning bolt, burning vengeance, goblin bombardment, faithless looting (which could support burning vengeance with flashback and unearth) you also get numerous artifact hate in red. Blood moon comes to mind to play sideboardwise along with contamination which is in no way a problem because your nonbasics still support your deck.
Green gives access to abrupt decay, lothleth troll, deathrite schaman,vengevine
Possibilities to hate both artifacts AND enchantments.
maybe from this point it is a personal decision which way someone wanna go from here.
Edit: sorry for having only few cardtags and a "short" answer, I'm on my phone. I'll edit the tags when I'm at home
"Well, then we will at least fight in the shadow"
"There is no glory to be gained in the kingdom of the dead!"
Post by Narah about unbanning Mind Twist in legacy and that this would be evil:
If you want to play on MTGO add me I'm HeskatetAS, playing Modern and Legacy
I did actually consider Restless Dead and did actually run them for a while in testing (also tested Diregraf Collossus). Restless Dead was eventually replaced with Crypt Breaker. Both of which combo nicely with Contamination but the cc and versatility of Crypt Breaker proved to be much better. Restless Dead was nice though. Diregraf Collossus was also nice but got cut due to cc as the deck already has too many 3 drops. Maybe he'd be better as a "one of" in the deck if I was running Unearth. Festering Goblin and Black Cat were also tested. Black Cat's cc proved to be an issue so he was also cut for Crypt Breaker and Festering Goblin was cut due to the lack of versatility.
I'm still toying with a black red build for Burning Vengeance. Yes Faithless Looting, Burning Vengeance and Goblin Bombardment seem nuts here! I have a build under development but so far it is lacking big time. Let me know if you want to see it. Also, the other route splashing green seems not bad at all, Abrupt Decay and DRS are ridiculously powerful.
Currently Playing:
Burning Reanimator
Eldrazi and Taxes
Bug Threshold
Enchantress
Dead Guy Ale
Combo Zombies
Pyromancer Pox
// 19 Creature
3 Vengevine
4 Bloodghast
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Gravecrawler
// 3 Enchantment
3 Goblin Bombardment
// 8 Instant
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Lightning Bolt
// 20 Land
2 Marsh Flats
3 Bayou
3 Swamp
4 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
2 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Faithless Looting
// 3 Creature
1 Faerie Macabre
2 Phyrexian Revoker
// 2 Enchantment
2 Contamination
// 10 Instant
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Golgari Charm
3 Surgical Extraction
Sure it's doing the same thing I guess, for better or for worse, but maybe you can learn something from this list. There are similar lists posted on MTGOtop8 that placed first as well.
This guy was using Entomb, and also placed 1st
3 Badlands
2 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Marsh Flats
2 Phyrexian Tower
4 Polluted Delta
3 Swamp
1 Undiscovered Paradise
Creatures 20
4 Bloodghast
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Dark Confidant
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Gravecrawler
1 Magus of the Moon
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Entomb
4 Faithless Looting
2 Gitaxian Probe
1 Kolaghan's Command
2 Thoughtseize
Enchantments 5
2 Bridge from Below
3 Goblin Bombardment
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Attrition
2 Choke
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Urborg Justice
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Also, lately I've been testing and Phyrexian Tower usually hasn't been helping all that much. Usually it just becomes a Wasteland target and when it isn't it doesn't really offer that much utility. I'm noticing that the second list you posted he runs two main deck.
Currently Playing:
Burning Reanimator
Eldrazi and Taxes
Bug Threshold
Enchantress
Dead Guy Ale
Combo Zombies
Pyromancer Pox
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
EDIT: But perhaps your right. It might be to expensive cc wise for Zombardment. That deck idea might be better off built around Burning Vengeance and Secrets of the Dead with flashback and retrace spells such as Faithless Looting, Deep Analysis, Raven's Crime and Desperate Ravings. Although that is another brew entirely.
Currently Playing:
Burning Reanimator
Eldrazi and Taxes
Bug Threshold
Enchantress
Dead Guy Ale
Combo Zombies
Pyromancer Pox
Currently Playing:
Burning Reanimator
Eldrazi and Taxes
Bug Threshold
Enchantress
Dead Guy Ale
Combo Zombies
Pyromancer Pox
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Currently Playing:
Burning Reanimator
Eldrazi and Taxes
Bug Threshold
Enchantress
Dead Guy Ale
Combo Zombies
Pyromancer Pox