Innistrad added three Zombie cards that I was looking at, Diregraf Ghoul, Endless Ranks of the Dead, and Cellar Door. The first one improves the speed of the Zombie deck, and the last two make it much easier to get more Zombies out.
I did some searching on Gatherer and found a bunch of other Zombie cards. The best ones seemed to be B, G, and W, so here we are! These are the cards I'm currently looking at:
Putrefy could be substituted for Doom Blade, but I prefer the versatility that the in-color spell gives us.
Lord of the Undead could be substituted for another or multiple Zombie lord(s), but I feel that it is simply the best one, and the others don't add enough to the other great cards we have to put in.
Vulturous Zombie and Cellar Door combo nicely with each other. The Zombie's ability works on mill effects. Playing Cellar Door also allows us to play Phylactery Lich, but as of now I don't think it's the best choice. He has 3 B symbols, and can't be played at all without a Door out, so he most likely won't go down on turn 3, when he is most useful.
Tidehollow Sculler gives us a reason to splash White, which in turn gives us a good sideboard with Oblivion Ring and Wrath of God. It has amazing synergy with Glissa, the Traitor, and is overall a great card by itself. A non-white deck would take out Sculler and Covenant, and would be less likely to play Glissa or Cellar Door.
In turn, Putrid Leech is another cheap, great Zombie, giving us a reason to splash Green. Still, the deck is mostly Black. However, I don't think that mono-Black is the way to go at all. You need either the Leech or the Sculler in that 2-drop spot.
Stromgald Crusader unfortunately costs too much B to play in a multicolored deck. Stillmoon Cavalier could be doable in the BW variant, but Protection from Black isn't nearly as useful as White, and it costs one extra.
- Easiest mana base
- Lots of card draw and hand disruption
- Stromgald Crusader can be pumped to fit your needs
- Nameless Inversion and Fleshbag Marauder can be brought back over and over again
Cons
- No Sculler or Leech reduces the power level
- Seems just like Vampires but slower. Endless Ranks of the Dead and Lord of the Undead are the big differences. Needs playtesting to see if that's enough.
The Zombie deck looks overall good, but will probably still lose to top competitive decks. Perhaps some others can help me make these better, as I'm certainly not the best deck builder. I've just put all of the cards on the table for you to see. I feel like there is a certain perfect mix which could allow for great, efficient creatures, but I'm still working on finding it.
SORCERIES
3x Mortify
4x Hour of Reckoning
2x Day of Judgment
3x Moan of the Unhallowed
ENCHANTMENTS
4x Ghostly Prison
3x Necromancer's Covenant
4x Endless Ranks of the Dead
LANDS
12x Plains
4x Swamp
4x Marsh Flats
The strategy is to slow the enemy down with defensive white weenies, Ghostly Prison to choke off small creature aggro, and Mortify to kill fatties, until you can cast Hour of Reckoning or Day of Judgment. Then pull out a Necromancer's Covenant, power it up with Moan of the Unhallowed and Endless Ranks of the Dead, and start spawning zombies.
Haven't yet had a chance to test this against an actual person, but trial runs against a couple of my other decks did pretty well. I toyed with zombie boosters like Intangible Virtue, but in the end I don't think the deck needs them; it's not hard to overrun somebody with a pile of 2/2s if you just blew up the board. The challenge is surviving long enough to get the zombie machine going, and all of the deck's cards need to be focused on that. (Pyroclasm could be a problem, though.)
When I saw this I had to make my own list and there being many zombies of every different color that just so happen to be very sexy, what better way to play a 4 colored Zombie deck than with Æther Vial only thing is the deck might be hurting its self with fetchs and rav duels plus putrid leech... Primal Command could be a Fix but idk yet I never even tested this lol
Whats that Vial on 3 means big scary Skaab Ruinators with no downsides? lulzz
(fixed the land, I had garden temple when I ment to put godless shrine, everything should be a swamp now for korlash. but then again I was thinking about switching him out for Undead Warchief or Viscera Dragger)
I liked this deck so much Im really focused on trying to make it work, added a board based on what I was playing VS. on MWS. I cut 2 lands and fixed the land base. added a SoWP, another Path, and a Viscera Dragger and cut a Skaab.
I did some searching on Gatherer and found a bunch of other Zombie cards. The best ones seemed to be B, G, and W, so here we are! These are the cards I'm currently looking at:
Putrefy could be substituted for Doom Blade, but I prefer the versatility that the in-color spell gives us.
Lord of the Undead could be substituted for another or multiple Zombie lord(s), but I feel that it is simply the best one, and the others don't add enough to the other great cards we have to put in.
Vulturous Zombie and Cellar Door combo nicely with each other. The Zombie's ability works on mill effects. Playing Cellar Door also allows us to play Phylactery Lich, but as of now I don't think it's the best choice. He has 3 B symbols, and can't be played at all without a Door out, so he most likely won't go down on turn 3, when he is most useful.
Tidehollow Sculler gives us a reason to splash White, which in turn gives us a good sideboard with Oblivion Ring and Wrath of God. It has amazing synergy with Glissa, the Traitor, and is overall a great card by itself. A non-white deck would take out Sculler and Covenant, and would be less likely to play Glissa or Cellar Door.
In turn, Putrid Leech is another cheap, great Zombie, giving us a reason to splash Green. Still, the deck is mostly Black. However, I don't think that mono-Black is the way to go at all. You need either the Leech or the Sculler in that 2-drop spot.
Stromgald Crusader unfortunately costs too much B to play in a multicolored deck. Stillmoon Cavalier could be doable in the BW variant, but Protection from Black isn't nearly as useful as White, and it costs one extra.
Decks (still very much works in progress):
4x Fleshbag Marauder
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Lord of the Undead
4x Putrid Leech
3x Vulturous Zombie
1x Liliana Vess
1x Glissa, the Traitor
4x Giant Growth
4x Putrefy/Maelstrom Pulse
Enchantments and Artifacts
4x Endless Ranks of the Dead
2x Call to the Grave
Lands
5x Swamp
4x Woodland Cemetary
4x Forest
4x Twilight Mire
4x Llanowar Wastes
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
Pros
- Has great removal options
- Easy mana base
- Putrid Leech is one of the strongest Zombie cards
Cons
- Lacking in speed and power
4x Fleshbag Marauder
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Lord of the Undead
4x Putrid Leech
4x Tidehollow Sculler
3x Glissa, the Traitor
4x Thoughtseize/Sign in Blood
4x Oblivion Ring/Maelstrom Pulse
Enchantments and Artifacts
4x Endless Ranks of the Dead
2x Call to the Grave
1x Necromancer's Covenant
Pros
- Uses all of the best Zombie cards
Cons
- Tough mana base
4x Fleshbag Marauder
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Lord of the Undead
4x Tidehollow Sculler
1x Liliana Vess
4x Path to Exile
4x Doom Blade/Sign in Blood?
Enchantments and Artifacts
4x Endless Ranks of the Dead
3x Oblivion Ring?
2x Call to the Grave
1x Necromancer's Covenant
Pros
- Has great removal options
- Easy mana base
- Tidehollow Sculler is one of the strongest Zombie cards
Cons
- Lacking in speed and power
4x Fleshbag Marauder
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Lord of the Undead
3x Stromgald Crusader
1x Liliana of the Veil
4x Thoughtseize
4x Sign in Blood
4x Call to the Netherworld
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Endless Ranks of the Dead
2x Call to the Grave
Lands
22x Swamp
Pros
- Easiest mana base
- Lots of card draw and hand disruption
- Stromgald Crusader can be pumped to fit your needs
- Nameless Inversion and Fleshbag Marauder can be brought back over and over again
Cons
- No Sculler or Leech reduces the power level
- Seems just like Vampires but slower. Endless Ranks of the Dead and Lord of the Undead are the big differences. Needs playtesting to see if that's enough.
The Zombie deck looks overall good, but will probably still lose to top competitive decks. Perhaps some others can help me make these better, as I'm certainly not the best deck builder. I've just put all of the cards on the table for you to see. I feel like there is a certain perfect mix which could allow for great, efficient creatures, but I'm still working on finding it.
CREATURES
3x Perimeter Captain
4x Loyal Sentry
2x Tidehollow Sculler
ARTIFACTS
4x Orzhov Signet
SORCERIES
3x Mortify
4x Hour of Reckoning
2x Day of Judgment
3x Moan of the Unhallowed
ENCHANTMENTS
4x Ghostly Prison
3x Necromancer's Covenant
4x Endless Ranks of the Dead
LANDS
12x Plains
4x Swamp
4x Marsh Flats
The strategy is to slow the enemy down with defensive white weenies, Ghostly Prison to choke off small creature aggro, and Mortify to kill fatties, until you can cast Hour of Reckoning or Day of Judgment. Then pull out a Necromancer's Covenant, power it up with Moan of the Unhallowed and Endless Ranks of the Dead, and start spawning zombies.
Haven't yet had a chance to test this against an actual person, but trial runs against a couple of my other decks did pretty well. I toyed with zombie boosters like Intangible Virtue, but in the end I don't think the deck needs them; it's not hard to overrun somebody with a pile of 2/2s if you just blew up the board. The challenge is surviving long enough to get the zombie machine going, and all of the deck's cards need to be focused on that. (Pyroclasm could be a problem, though.)
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Putrid leech
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Skaab Ruinator
4 Lord of the Undead
1 Viscera Dragger
2 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Graveborn Muse
Artifacts 5
1 Sword of War and Peace
4 Æther Vial
Spells 11
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
4 Remand
2 Overgrown Tombs
2 Godless Shrine
3 Watery Grave
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh flats
1 Island
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Swamp
2 Gaea's Blessing
3 Hibernation
3 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Kitchen Finks
Whats that Vial on 3 means big scary Skaab Ruinators with no downsides? lulzz
(fixed the land, I had garden temple when I ment to put godless shrine, everything should be a swamp now for korlash. but then again I was thinking about switching him out for Undead Warchief or Viscera Dragger)
I liked this deck so much Im really focused on trying to make it work, added a board based on what I was playing VS. on MWS. I cut 2 lands and fixed the land base. added a SoWP, another Path, and a Viscera Dragger and cut a Skaab.
Sig and Avvy by Heroes of the Plane Studios
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