MTG Salvation

Hi everyone,
I'm doing something rather cliche but hopefully fun, I'm building an EDH zombie deck. My general is probably going to be Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, but I guess I'm still considering Geth, Lord of the Vault. Either way, it's definitely going to be mono-black and the creatures are the easy part anyway, I just want to shove a bunch of zombie's into a deck and have a good time.

It's the non-creature cards that I could use some help with. Gatherer makes it really easy to find all the good zombie creatures, but it's a lot more work to figure out what support cards go well with them. So I'm asking for your help. What cards go great in a zombie tribal deck? I'd love some specifically zombie themed cards, a la Zombie Apocalypse or Endless Ranks of the Dead. But also the less obvious but still awesome cards like Grave Pact or whatever else. Any suggestions would be really helpful. Thanks!

I just realized that I already had a Grave Betrayal; solid suggestion. I forgot about Cellar Door. I'll think about that one, seems interesting.

what do aggro decks need?

Protection vs mass removal

Balthor,the Defiled

I have a graveyard based/zombie aggro deck with him at the helm, with many tricks in it,if it's graveyard is untouched it just wins.

I just love it.

Grandeur cant be made to work , at least in mono black

Unless you really like having a beefy regenerating zombie as your commander

there are also 3 colored zombies,Thraximundar Sedris,Lord of Tresshorn, 2 color, Dralnu,Grimgrin,Glissa, the Traitor ,Tymaret. there are other good choices too

edit : i just saw the non zombie part

Call to the Grave Buried Alive Living Death Patriarch's Bidding and other effects like that Zombie Apocalypse etc..

if you add blue there's Rooftop Storm

Mono Black can't deal with Artifacts or enchantments(except few terribad things, especially in aggro zombies), so just be fast enough, or disruptive enough. Keep that in mind.

Greetings fellow Zombie overlord.

I've recently turned my Geth Zombie deck into a Grimgrin Zombie deck. Having access to blue has ramped the power level of my zombies significantly. That said, you've already expressed interest in mono-black....so here are some non-creature cards that I felt worked really well in Zombies:

- IF you have a card draw mechanic going, Zombie Infestation is a house...especially if you're holding onto Living Death.

- The new Curse of Shallow Graves has not disappointed. Swing with a zombie and get a free zombie. How awesome is that. Sadly....the limit is 1.

- I presume you've already listed Endless Ranks of the Dead and Army of the Damned...

- I've found that zombies really love their mana rocks. Pack on the Sol Ring, Pristine Talisman, Thran Dynamo etc to help reach those powerful 5-6 drop zombies quicker.

- Skullclamp and Dark Prophecy have been amazing, especially when you've got your sac engine going.

- Ghoulcaller's Chant is very thematic.

- Unholy Grotto will help aswell.


Hope this helps...

...win the apocolypse!

I have played both Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and now Balthor the Defiled and Balthor is WAY more of a house. The raw power having a semi-Zombie Apocalypse sitting in the command zone is both flavorful and sometimes unbeatable.

My decklist is sadly only on TappedOut right now but I plan on moving it here. Here's a link though A Short Story About Zombies and hopefully it's okay to post here.

Cards like No Rest for the Wicked, Cover of Darkness, and Phyrexian Reclamation are all great flavorful cards plus all the aforementioned ones too.

Zombie are one of the most resilient and fun tribes to pilot IMO so good luck!

A lot of good zombies are in the 3 and 4 drop slots, so make sure you plan out your mana base for that.

If you go Korlash and put Geth on maindeck, consider running Gravespawn Sovereign. It's ability doesn't require haste, and it should be trivial to get 4 other zombies out.

I personally loved Tombstone Stairwell in my Zombie deck. It as easy to break and super powerful. Add Alter of Dementia in the mix and it got easy to mill a table in 1-2 turns.

Door of Destinies- not very zombie saddly, alter the art with zombies coming out the door?
Phyrexian Reclamation- pretty much belongs in all my decks with black in them
Crypt of Agadeem- get those mana
Unholy Grotto- get those zombies
Grimoire of the Dead !- not only the Book of the Dead fluff, but also turns them all into zombie type

These are some great suggestions. Love it. I'm not opposed to using a multicolored zombie commander but I want to start with a mono-black deck simply for the sake of cost. I have a number of black good-stuff cards already (Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Grave Pact, etc.) but don't have any blue ones because I don't have a blue EDH deck. Once I have a good collection of black zombie cards, then I can think about adding in additional zombie cards, good-stuff cards, and mana base for another color or two.

Resilience is definitely something I'm worried about since it is a tribal deck. Mass removal is bad news. Interesting suggestion to use Balthor the Defiled as the commander instead. Any other suggestions for added protection from mass removal. Obviously the graveyard will be quite the resource for me, but sometimes Bojuka Bog just wrecks you. Are there any good ideas for keeping my guys on the field to begin with? Eldrazi Monument comes to mind. Anything else?

Noxious ****ing Ghoul. Practically a one sided wrath, especially with Patriarch's Bidding or Living Death.

Withered Wretch. Spot removal for graveyards!

Rotlung Reanimator. There are a lot of zombies that are also clerics.

Shepherd of Rot. Mutually assured destruction.

Gempalm Polluter. Zombie burn spell.

EDIT: D'oh. You were looking for the non-zombies to run along size zombie cards. Oops. Um. Oversold Cemetery? The standard reanimation suite? Crap, I feel pretty useless. The other good stuff was already mentioned.

Check the Mikaeus link in my sig - it's made for multiplayer and is tribal zombies.

He offers everything you want - wrath resilience, lords your team, and has evasion himself; oh and he's a rattlesnake of removal.

Nim Deathmantle and Rise from the Grave make other creatures into zombies. Deathmantle is also a combo piece.

You should consider Thraximundar or Sedris, the Traitor King to get access to more good zombies such as Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Crypt Champion, Undead Alchemist, Diregraf Captain, Havengul Lich, Lich Lord of Unx, and Dralnu, Lich Lord.

Liliana's Reaver, Lord of the Undead, and Call to the Grave are all good.

First zombies have a variety of interesting targeted removal that works within the tribe:

Cruel Revival is my favorite zombie-tribal instant.

Feast Or Famine is similar, a par body at worst, a removal spell at best.

Feeding Frenzy can occasionally knock down big threats, not one that I run personally but it hits the mark for flavor.

Then there are some token producers I havn't seen mentioned:

Moan of the Unhallowed gets you two 2/2's for four, and sometimes brings value from the graveyard.

Quest for the Gravelord spits out a large zombie just by doing what the deck does naturally.

Syphon Flesh is removal and a body in 1v1, and more powerful token production in multiplayer.

Tombstone Stairwell is an oldie, but if your yard is stocked you might end up dropping a ton of hasty bodies and winning. Can of course backfire, and gives your opponents blockers, but I like it.

Lastly of course big daddy Grave Betrayall was mentioned, but its little brother Rise From the Grave makes whatever it reanimated into a zombie.

All I've got for non-creature options.

(Nath'd for Rise I see.)

If using Unholy Grotto use Volraths Stronghold as well...

I never thought of Vengeful Dead for my own deck (always brushed him off as a four mana 3/2). But that's a combo piece with a relevant typeline - and since I enjoy Dark Prophecy so much, and want to include Tombstone Stairwell anyway...I should absolutely get that. Gravespawn Sovereign as well. Holy crap, thanks Wildfire.

Personaly I think Lord of Tresserhorn and Nekusar are better zombie Generals then grim grim as theres plenty of great Red zombies to add to a tribal, plus being able to adding wheels to get zombies in your graveyard is never bad. Also anger AND wonder makes zombies more fun.

The other other zombie tribal I might try might be Jarad. You'd be suprised how many Green black Zombies there are.

also if your looking for cards that have good synergy with zombies, theres quite a few.

Zombie Apocalypse, Cruel Revival, Endless Ranks of the Dead, Feeding Frenzy, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Infernal Caretaker, Lim-Dûl the Necromancer, Rooftop Storm, , Aphetto Dredging, Cryptic Gateway, Shared Animosity

If you choose Jarad theres: Alpha Status, Strength of Night

The nice part about the Grimgrin, Corpse-Born tribal EDH is the fact that he is a sac outlet that works very well with those zombies Wildfire393 mentioned. Along with Grave Pact and Dark Prophecy, things can get pretty nasty in a hurry.

Also you can have some fun with an old forgotten card Arena of the Ancients by using Grimgrin.

I just find Grimgrim less fun as well as a hate draw.

I find him better as a one of, where he comes out as a suprise and catches people off gaurd. I've put red in my Zombie decks and I can't go back to just B/U. It would feel incomplete.

Quote from Rancid Raptor

I just find Grimgrim less fun as well as a hate draw.

I find him better as a one of, where he comes out as a suprise and catches people off gaurd. I've put red in my Zombie decks and I can't go back to just B/U. It would feel incomplete.

I'm working my way over to that. Just got Thrax in the COMM2013.

Blue is definitely worth it for rooftop storm. If you stick a rooftop storm, you'll likely win the game. I actually centered my Nekusar deck around it. Also, gray merchant of asphodelis backbreaking in multiplayer.

I'm finding Gray Merchant of Asphodel to be one of my favourite zombies in Mikaeus with the means to reuse his ETB ability (of which black has plenty).
As for the general, if you want something out of the ordinary ("the ordinary" being Mike, Balthor and Grimgrin), Tymaret is a really neat piece of utility which usually flies under the radar. There are few playable red zombies, but it gives you access to Anathemancer, Vicious Shadows and a lot of sweepers.

I used Tomestone Stairwell in a deck once with Alter of Dementia to first mill myself then one player at a time while beating on another player with my freshly hasted zombies it was great fun .

Tombstone Stairwell + Black Market could be a lot of fun for you. It also triggers Bloodchief Ascension and other such effects.