I've had a more or less zombie tribal build of some description for the last 3-4 years under various generals. I've tried Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Gisa and Geralf, and Thraximundar. None of them really suited what I wanted the build to be, so when Varina, Lich Queen was spoiled I was very excited. In fact, she's the only commander form 2018 precons that I had any interest in building.
As a commander, Varina is interesting in that there are several avenues she can run down. There's lifegain builds, attrition builds, pure tribal zombies, all-in reanimator, token swarm, library manipulation/miracle, combo...she's remarkably versatile. In building, I knew I wanted a strong zombie theme, but I also wanted more than just to cram whatever zombies I could find in here and turn them sideways. In fact, of the strategies mentioned above, there's probably a little bit of everything here, so as the title suggests it's probably a midrange build. Varina suits this well; she's naturally got a lot of filtering power on her attack trigger, she has some life gain, she dumps to graveyard, and she likes company.
I've always liked reanimation strategies, and this deck should make that obvious. It plays in really well with attrition with zombies, specifically with lords like Diregraf Captain, Vengeful Dead and Wayward Servant. Being able to pump out tokens makes this a valuable strategy, and there's some real gems for zombie tokens too - Tombstone Stairwell, Diregraf Colossus and Ghoulcaller Gisa. As well as this, we need an element of control too - we need to be able to make sure the board state favours us - a lot of times that means wiping it clean, or removing key pieces where needed. Regardless, there's a lot of tools in our belt, and victory is often just assessing what works best for us in the scenario we find ourselves in.
In playtesting, the deck sort of has a momentum to it. So long as you have your colours and some juice in your hand you're ok, and you can make sure you keep the momentum going. It's fairly rare there's not a good time to swing with something, and it's easy enough to keep advantage heading your way. Every swing gives us the opportunity to draw into some level of advantage and puts us a little further away from defeat. And that's sort of how we play - we survive and keep fighting until the pieces come together. We can take a lot of heat in early stages, so keeping a hand with early drops is advisable, but once we've got some momentum going it's hard to stop us.
All this being said, it's important to choose your spells carefully. We're running a fairly lean engine and won't generally have a huge surplus of spare mana unless things go exceptionally well. It can happen, but it's rare enough to not plan around. So with this in mind, we're more or less never going to look at playing our hand out and entering topdeck mode. We're looking at making optimal plays, maximising our advantage as cheaply as we can and incrementally advancing our game. This also gives us valuable options for Varina's trigger. It's important to note that while she does draw you cards, she makes you discard as many, so keeping cards in hand is important. It's part of why she's worked so well with a midrange strategy - we play optimally, swing to sculpt our hand, and set ourselves up with options. If we vomit our hand on to the board, we're really just filling our yard sub-optimally and keeping nothing back for answers.
This segues us into a fairly appropriate topic at a good time. It's important to know what to toss and when to toss it. This is going to happen a lot - Varina's filtering is fantastic, but you're not ever going to be able to keep all of the cards in hand you want to. This is fairly convenient in that there's a reasonable degree to graveyard interaction in the tribe, and in the spells I've chosen for the list. It will also mean that there are sometimes hard choices to make; do you keep land drops, do you hold up removal, reanimation, creatures? The situation will vary, but don't be afraid to turf land drops or wipes if you have redundancy in hand. After all, that's what Varina's second ability is for. You shouldn't be afraid to use this either. It's instant speed, can give you board presence to untap with on your turn and can turn your excess land or spells you don't need right now into advantage and further filtering next combat.
Advanced Strategy/Synergies
It should be no surprise that Varina is in colours that can combo out quite easily. I've chosen not to follow this through, although I am aware that there are synergies that can be abused pretty heavily here, and many that will go infinite. When these come up, I usually ignore them, but there's no reason to follow suit if your stance on combo varies from mine. I'm happy to go over some of the options available here, too - there are plenty, in both combo and stax/lock options. I won't discuss them in the initial post, but I am happy to mention what I'm aware of in subsequent posts. It just isn't my play style to do this, but that's entirely a self imposed regulation, and you need not feel bad for leaning into that area, each deck is different and it's your prerogative to build what you enjoy
My strategy is to leverage my most powerful strategies without going fully infinite or comboing. There's plenty here, and dropping the right spell at the right time while building momentum will allow us to do plenty and stay relevant. Usually I try to maintain a fairly low profile early and build some momentum while I dig for my clutch cards. That's part of why I've chosen the cards I've chosen - all of my draw is pretty burst related, so that I can discard for value and reanimation, and dig deep. There are specific cards in the deck that fit well together, so depending what we have in hand, we're digging for reasonably specific things to pair up or work those synergies.
What follows below is a non-exhaustive description of some of the stronger synergies on offer here and how they get us ahead: Aristocrats:
Each of these gives us a way to slowly eke away at life totals. We don't specifically swarm, but there are some really great cards to pair up with these. Tombstone Stairwell is unbearably, incredibly good at this. Every single turn (not just every turn of yours, every turn), you get a zombie with haste for each creature in your yard. Wayward Servant can bleed people out for that, and gain you some life. Then they die at end of turn. Any of the others here can make use of that - specifically, Vengeful Dead will hurt your opponents for every single zombie that dies this way, not just yours. Ghoulcaller Gisa can do similar things, albeit somewhat more slowly, and from time to time Living Death, Patriarch's Bidding and Zombie Apocalypse can chime in too. Aminatou, Walkers and Age counters
She's sort of our draw fixer and swiss army knife. Her first ability is nice, but her value is superb for the second ability. She resets counters on things and gives us extra ETB triggers. We have three walkers here, 2 of which she can blink, and we have 2 strong effects with cumulative upkeeps and associated age counters that she can get rid of - we'll never be entirely free of them, but she can keep them manageable (her lieutenant Soul Diviner can help here too). Not only this, she can keep our board expanding with Ghoulcaller Gisa, give us an untapped utility land, or even just untap our biggest guy for defense.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
So, we all know about Mike and his pal Trike. Trike isn't here, and we're slim on unlimited sacrifice outlets anyway. That's not what we're aiming for. He's here to keep our board presence, mostly. That being said, he is still capable of allowing some really strong interactions:
Recovery from our own board wipes (his ability goes on the stack when he dies regardless)
A rugged bleeder cycle with Wayward Servant and pals
Another one with Plague Belcher and Gravecrawler, for as much B as you have spare
A continual source of incremental draw with Soul Diviner
Again, it would be easy enough to make these combo material in a number of ways. That's not what I'm going for, but don't let it stop you - most of these interactions would go infinite with Rooftop Storm or Phyrexian Altar/Ashnod's Altar. He's also going to be an immediate target regardless, so it's really important to make sure you cast him when it's worth casting him. Casting him to an empty board and passing turn is a bad idea and won't get you far at all. He's best cheated into play considering his CMC, but that can telegraph a little. Ideally, however it's managed, we want to drop him into an existing board with some interactive components already in place - Eldrazi Monument, Noosegraf Mob, Carrion Feeder, whatever you can find, Mike is the last piece you want to cast before you leverage him for profit. Removal
We run an ample suite here, lots of standard wipes. And mostly we're not afraid of them, either. Having an aristocrat on board totally changes how things look post-wipe. We've got bounce in the ubiquitous Cyclonic Rift, wipes that will leave us better off with Citywide Bust and Austere Command, exile effects with Return to Dust, Silence the Believers and Utter End. We're also running removal with extra effects to keep our board state up with Living Death (my favourite card ever). However, we also have a couple of other really effective tricks up our sleeve.
Archfiend of Ifnir
He's not a zombie. He is, however, absolutely devastating. Combine him with Varina's attack trigger, Forgotten Creation's upkeep trigger, or any of the other loot effects we have, and we can literally flatten the rest of the board, with permanence. As a plus, he will kill indestructibles, too.
These strategies have been listed in terms of efficacy. Our bleeders can win, and win easy. They're mostly cheap, they're plentiful and easy to assemble. We can do some great reanimation tricks, which are a ton of fun. We can generate a lot of advantage with our walkers, and we can break down a board state with relative efficacy.
That being said, sometimes it won't all come together well. That's where we fall back to our base game plan - we turn sideways. We have a fairly high density of lords and their pump effects, and we have options for evasion too. Eldrazi Monument can win games with 3-4 creatures on board (thanks Gravecrawler!). Graf Harvest or Lord of the Accursed gives us twice the attack power against other creatures. Death Baron makes sure we trade well in combat, and so does Vault of the Archangel. And the great part of all of this is that Varina draws us into further juice and further life gain every time we swing, even if we don't swing with her. There's an air of inevitability to this - if we're not dealt with, we will eventually gather enough momentum to roll over for the win. Even if our stuff gets removed, Varina can exile it for tokens, as can Graf Harvest. When this happens it's not a glamorous win, but it gets you over the line, and that's what counts.
I'm pretty happy with how the deck is running at the moment, the only real issue it has is colour fixing from time to time, but otherwise it's remarkably solid, and it's a lot of fun to play. No two games are exactly the same, and at present it's probably my most successful existing deck.
Feel free to critique, offer strategies or suggestions or just generally discuss. This deck isn't going anywhere, and I'm very much open to assessment of future amendments.
Enjoy!
First impressions: lots of fun to play, plenty of options and the deck is pretty quick to get running, too. Varina l’s second ability is more relevant than I thought it’d be, too. Being able to exile a couple lands outside of your turn to have a chump blocker or a zombie to swing with and get some draw is decent value.
What eventually won the game though was embalming Aven Wind Guide and swinging in. Lord of the accursed did well, too, which I’m pleased about as I was unsure about its inclusion.
So, a couple of playtests down now, and some initial changes and initial thoughts.
This deck moves reasonably quickly. It works best as a pseudo-control / midrange build, in that you can swing with relative impunity but it's also of importance that you hold something back for answers, sculpt your hand and graveyard, and have contingency plans. Which is fine, because there's a reasonable number of cards that care about zombies dying, so I can make that hurt.
The biggest things to account for are regular draw (burst draw hasn't been a problem thus far) and colour fixing. Without fetches (which I won't be buying anytime soon) I've found this more important than big mana to date. I can do big mana with coffers, but it's not entirely necessary. So long as I can play something impactful each turn, I'm fine.
I'm happy with the 'walkers, too - Animatou, the Fateshifter has two very relevant abilities, and I guess that ultimate could come in handy at some point (although I really like the idea of a walker that focuses more on mid-game relevance than a win-con. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage has been alright, too. Again, I'm not gunning for her ultimate (as much as I wouldn't say no to it). Her +1 has been really handy for removing problematic creatures from combat and shutting down Voltron strategies. She's not always fantastic, which means sometimes she will get discarded, but it does become apparent when she will see some use.
So there were some things I wanted to change up - more looting and draw filtering, fixing the right colours (I figured out I had the wrong signets in here), and a little more board control. The amount of creatures Unearth can bring back is pretty staggering, so that's nice. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is here as a sac engine, solid combat beater and targeted removal engine, and I see him doing good things. Necromancer's Stockpile was a little mana hungry, and given the average CMC I don't mind hard-casting most of the creatures here, so it was kind of zero sum. Zombie Infestation I don't need to hold up mana for, don't need to (but still can if I want to) discard creatures for, and the tokens come into play untapped.
I also have a couple of staples on the way from my LGS, Chromatic Lantern, Mystic Remora, and I'd also like to try out Open the Graves as a decent token generator. Further playtesting will see how all that plays out, time will tell.
So, I had a great playtest yesterday. Played Oloro, Ageless Ascetic stax, Daretti, Scrap Savant combo and Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug...weird combination but whatevs. The ramp from hugs was beneficial and I hit the Urborg/Coffers combo for big mana. Daretti started assembling a Lattice/Disk board lock, so became my prime target. I managed to land a Tombstone Stairwell with Wayward Servant and Diregraf Captain on board. Honestly, it was brutal. Those three cards more or less won the game entirely. I had 6 zombies entering each turn for 6 damage to each player and 6 life for me, and then 6 life loss which I took out Daretti with. Hug player swept shortly after this, and I squared off against Oloro.
I did make a couple of misplays - I Entreat the Deaded, filling my board, and had Forbid in hand with 4 other cards. I resolved it against a wipe, bought it back once, and for the next counter I let it go to graveyard, at which point Oloro locked me out with Humility. From that point in I really couldn't achieve much past Glacial Chasm, Solemnity and Decree of Silence. It was a very solid lock. I had a single moment to win prior to Humility dropping. I had Grimgrin, Corpse-Born in play, so I should have sacrificed my board in response to cause more bleeder effects. It would have ended the game, but I missed my chance.
It was a lot of fun, and I was happy with how the deck performed. The Oloro player also ran through my decklist with me and went over some suggestions, so it was nice to get some feedback as to where I should go. There are a couple of additions that I'd like to make, and a couple of cuts I'm pretty set on now;
I'd really like to playtest some of this before I make any wide sweeping changes, but there are some definite adds here. Corpse Harvester is a must, Black Market should give obscene value, the sweeps are necessary and Remora should be excellent. I'm also aware that there are more adds than cuts at present. This sort of presents a list for eventual testing and adjustments, so it remains to be seen how much of this is locked in for definite adds.
As far as maybes go, I really like Ayli. Her exile is legit, although I'm currently unsure of whether I can keep my life total above 50 regularly, which is the main reason it's a maybe. The Altar is strong, but I feel like its a meta call. It might be spreading my strategies too thin to try and mill people out, but it does play well with some of the reanimation tactics I employ, so I'm on the fence there too. Noosegraf would get silly with [c]Mikaeus the Unhallowed, but otherwise I think there are probably plenty of easy enough way to get zombies in play, and I have better options. I like Gravespawn theoretically, but it costs a lot to cast and does nothing on it's own. Instant speed reanimation is nothing to scoff at, but it does also force a decision - attack or reanimate? So I'm unsure. The CMC alone has me on the fence about it.
All in all thus far I'm really happy with how this is playing, and it's been a lot of fun. Getting lots of positive comments back too, so that's always nice.
I really liknig Varina aswell. My build is mix of control and tokens. Some zombies are for the value and interaction with the tokens. I have more spells then creatures tough so i don't go the mill and reanimation plan. This was i have mutch awnsers. I don't use as mutch boardwipes because my board ends up been the msot dangerous XD. Basically make tons of tokens and protect them with control spells tough this deck can comeback from a board wipe rally well(Strentgh of zombies).
I really liknig Varina aswell. My build is mix of control and tokens. Some zombies are for the value and interaction with the tokens. I have more spells then creatures tough so i don't go the mill and reanimation plan. This was i have mutch awnsers. I don't use as mutch boardwipes because my board ends up been the msot dangerous XD. Basically make tons of tokens and protect them with control spells tough this deck can comeback from a board wipe rally well(Strentgh of zombies).
Yeah, that all sounds pretty solid. There is a reasonable degree of variability in how to build around Varina. For myself, I don't mind blowing the board up, considering me losing my zombies is going to hurt everyone else. Plus, I like building a degree of flexibility into my decks. There's enough zombies around now to stack a deck full of zombie lords, some pump spells and turn them sideways, but I like having the option of taking a couple of different avenues when needed.
I really liknig Varina aswell. My build is mix of control and tokens. Some zombies are for the value and interaction with the tokens. I have more spells then creatures tough so i don't go the mill and reanimation plan. This was i have mutch awnsers. I don't use as mutch boardwipes because my board ends up been the msot dangerous XD. Basically make tons of tokens and protect them with control spells tough this deck can comeback from a board wipe rally well(Strentgh of zombies).
Yeah, that all sounds pretty solid. There is a reasonable degree of variability in how to build around Varina. For myself, I don't mind blowing the board up, considering me losing my zombies is going to hurt everyone else. Plus, I like building a degree of flexibility into my decks. There's enough zombies around now to stack a deck full of zombie lords, some pump spells and turn them sideways, but I like having the option of taking a couple of different avenues when needed.
Yeah Varina is suprisinglly a versatile commander for ZOmbies compared to others. Can go full on Zombie lords, Self mill to revive them or full on tokens. Need to find wich build is mroe succefull and its reealloy hard to choose wich zombies to include. Access to Anointed Procession makes so mutch diference
I haven't felt the need for Anointed Procession thus far, but it's something I may well add at some point. I guess it's the last thing I want to work on - the first things are draw and mana fixing, and working out what my primary avenues to winning are. The biggest problem I've noticed is deciding which areas to work on; there's enough strategy in zombies now that it's not as simple as throwing as many zombies as you can in and seeing how they go. And with three colours it gets harder again - it opens up avenues for control, swarm, combo, a mix of the above....and there's only so many spots to fill. It's something I'm struggling with, because I like to be able to change strategy if I'm shut down.
It's interesting though, I only really find myself playing Varina when I need to dig deep for answers. Her abilities are super valuable, but if I have everything I need and adequate draw in my hand it doesn't matter so much. It's nice being able to drum up a token at instant speed for chumping, and it's a good feeling knowing I don't need to rely on casting my commander. To me that seems a good sign, but it's something I don't necessarily find with every deck I build.
edit:
I had a couple of adds from my collection, so I've made a couple of the changes I spoke of above.
In: Havengul Lich Shadows of the Past
I've been a bit hesitant about adding the Lich, because I was unsure of how many activated abilities he could actually use and abuse. Plus, he's expensive reanimation. We can get around that, but here's the list of what he can take advantage of:
So, it's not without uses, and it'll help with consistent access to sac outlets, draw, scry, combat evasion, buffs and so forth.
Shadows should see some work. It'll be nuts with Tombstone Stairwell and any sac outlets I can find. I'm not overly interested in the second ability, but it might see use, you never know.
So a lot of this is tidying up some overcosted zombies that weren't having the impact I wanted - there's enough zombies around now that there's no excuse for weak choices. The rest is mana fixing, draw fixing, and giving myself some decent token generators and sac outlets. Ayli, I'm not sure about. She could be awesome, or underwhelming. Likewise with Noosegraf; it's not cheap, but it'll be interesting enough with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.
There's another couple of options I'd like to pick up, although it might take a little while to track them down: Corpse Harvester and Ashnod's Altar. I'd go for Phyrexian Altar otherwise, but I suspect the limited reprint is unlikely to cause any significant drop in price.
Had a fun playtest today. Did a 3v3 against Muldrotha and Jodah. Jodah landed an early fetch and some mana dorks, and got a t4 Progenitus. Muldrotha durdled for a while, and I was mana screwed. Had land drops, but needed acceleration. I had Decree of Pain in hand, so I cast Diregraf Captain, Vengeful Dead and put some bodies on the field for fodder.
The Jodah player took me down to 15 before I decreed. It was worth it to refill hand for 7 and keep the board empty. I spent the rest of the game clawing back from 5 life, and evenutally it turned into a 1v1 against Jodah. He cast Iona, shield of Emeria naming black, but I had The Scarab God and exiled Diregraf Captain and Vengeful Dead for copies, then Supreme Verdicted.
Guy definitely didn't hit his land drops, and eventually I Return to Dusted his Chromatic Lantern and Wurmcoil Engine to really slow him down. Varina helped me keep above zero and dig, Scarab helped me bleed him and keep a board presence, and I eventually swung in for 19 against an empty board to win.
It was a very slow start for me so I thought it was a complete flop of a game at one point. Jodah even alpha struck me then said 'gg?', but I was pleased to be able to fight back and make everything hurt for him. Pleased with the extra sweeps thus far - I haven't really been able to check much else out, but thus far I'm really happy with the deck at present.
Have you thought about putting in Rooftop Storm ?I'm thinking about getting it for my Varina.For the most part she is mostly still precon but Rooftop Storm could be good.
Have you thought about putting in Rooftop Storm ?I'm thinking about getting it for my Varina.For the most part she is mostly still precon but Rooftop Storm could be good.
Im working on Varina now, deck isnt even complete yet, but I have a rooftop storm in the proposed deck so far.
So I guess yeah, it seems an obvious choice. I've run it in zombie builds before. There's a couple of reasons I'm not running it presently:
Partly it's a strategy decision. I've found that vomiting my hand onto the field is often a bad play, in that it leaves me without answers or a way to rebuild post inevitable sweeper. To be fair, I don't generally mind a board blowout so long as I have a bleeder lord on the field. But the deck really works best when I don't go all in.
The other reason I don't run it is I've had better results from just playing out zombies without committing 5U to a spell that does nothing on its own. It's a spell that everybody expects, and if it's countered (which is common) I'm likely down a turn cycle, barring any big mana I can find, and there's no guarantee of that. Either that or I'm target #1, and that's never a good place to be, especially considering zombies can't fly and they're not large without help.
Finally, it's sort of another strategy reason. I've found there's no need to swarm excessively with zombies. I don't need 4 dozen zombies in play to win. Most of the zombies I've picked here add something to the strategy and justify playing without having to get extra value by playing them for free.
I guess it's a contentious omission, but I really haven't found the need for it. By the time I'm casting a 6 CMC spell I should have a reasonable board state with some advantage anyway, so unless I can drop it, explode in one turn and win, it really doesn't add much to this particular build. That being said, Varina is versatile. I definitely recognise that this build is just one way to build her; it's kind of toolbox, kind of midrange/aggro/attrition, but it's not the only way to build her; you could go all in sac/stax, dedicated swarm, dedicated tribal, zombie mill, there's options. In a swarm build I could definitely see a place for Rooftop Storm.
How has citywide bust worked out for you? It looks interesting but im not sure if I would play it.
Being absolutely honest, I haven't drawn it to see how it plays with my other pieces yet. I would definitely prefer Retribution of the Meek, but that thing jumped to like $15 NZD, so this is a cheaper and close enough alternative. I guess I could've added Elspeth, Sun's Champion, but it's higher on the curve than I'd like. I can't see Citywide Bust being a terrible fit though; there are some pieces of mine that it kills - Varina, Havengul Lich, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, but I generally don't mind my stuff dying anyhow, so long as it dies for value, and I can generally make that happen. I just see it as more of a 'judicious use' sweeper - use in case of dinosaurs, etc. I'll definitely report back once I've got some gameplay in with it though.
How is it working out for you in terms of your ability to see lots of cards and hold a decent hand size? In our first draft of my wife's Varina deck, the list had almost no draw outside of Skullclamp and we quickly ended up with games where Varina was just milling cards due to having a hand of 0, 1 or 2 cards. I had assumed Varina was "enough", but since Varina is looting and not drawing the deck felt like it needed more ways to go card positive. The list now runs Read the Bones, Rhystic Study, Phyrexian Arena, Vampiric Rites, Night's Whispers, and Sign in Blood and is doing much better, so for your list I'd wonder if some of these might outstrip the usefulness of "card quality" engines like Aminatou and Forbidden Alchemy considering Varina's ability to loot like mad. Admittedly her build is a bit more combo-riffic (with the Undead Alchemist + various milling artifacts as a plan B) so maybe holding pieces in reserve was more crucial there.
A few other cards from her list that have been amazing so far:
Putrid Imp, Mummy Paramount, Graveyard Marshal, Fanbearer, Stromgald Crusader, Butcher Ghoul: Some of these are low power, but they've been crucial in making sure the deck has a critical mass of 1 and 2-drops. Varina rewards you for filling the 3-slot with Lords and then dropping her on turn 4 to start looting, which means running some oddball creatures to help curve out.
I will say she has run Rooftop Storm and has only drawn it thrice, but it generally has been pretty "win-more" and she's held it in hand one of those games since it was overkill. It did allow her to instantly recover from a Cyclonic Rift once (better than recover, actually, thanks to Diregraf Colossus), but it definitely isn't as amazing here as it can be in say Thraximundar.
Cards that would feel at a glance to not pull their weight: Phyrexian Delver: While it is #value, what are you reanimating that is worth the cost? Thassa, God of the Sea: This seems like a very expensive way to scry every turn. Yes, it lets something get in for Varina, but then that's a very expensive looting effect. You'd almost be better off running Erebos, God of the Dead at that point. Thran Dynamo: Avoided in my wife's list; how often is the CCC helping you considering all the heavy costs in the deck?
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How is it working out for you in terms of your ability to see lots of cards and hold a decent hand size? In our first draft of my wife's Varina deck, the list had almost no draw outside of Skullclamp and we quickly ended up with games where Varina was just milling cards due to having a hand of 0, 1 or 2 cards. I had assumed Varina was "enough", but since Varina is looting and not drawing the deck felt like it needed more ways to go card positive. The list now runs Read the Bones, Rhystic Study, Phyrexian Arena, Vampiric Rites, Night's Whispers, and Sign in Blood and is doing much better, so for your list I'd wonder if some of these might outstrip the usefulness of "card quality" engines like Aminatou and Forbidden Alchemy considering Varina's ability to loot like mad. Admittedly her build is a bit more combo-riffic (with the Undead Alchemist + various milling artifacts as a plan B) so maybe holding pieces in reserve was more crucial there.
Seeing lots of cards, great. Keeping a full hand, well...I keep enough in hand most of the time. But then I also don't mind looting so much here. It is something I'm looking for in most hands though, so if I don't have draw or rocks I mull. I may well consider adding some of these, the draw really is clutch here. I can scrape by without it, but it really does make things to smooth.
A few other cards from her list that have been amazing so far:
Necromancer's Covenant: Again, she's got a full mill plan with Altar of the Brood, Altar of Dementia, Embalmer's Tools, and Geth, Lord of the Vault so this card usually has lots of hits whereas it may not for you, but it has been very good every time she casts it and it's only sat useless in her hand once in five or six games.
Archfiend of Ifnir: The only non-zombie she runs (minus Vizier of Many Faces), but it has been absolutely devastating in the two games she's drawn it.
Putrid Imp, Mummy Paramount, Graveyard Marshal, Fanbearer, Stromgald Crusader, Butcher Ghoul: Some of these are low power, but they've been crucial in making sure the deck has a critical mass of 1 and 2-drops. Varina rewards you for filling the 3-slot with Lords and then dropping her on turn 4 to start looting, which means running some oddball creatures to help curve out.
I run Archfiend of Ifnir in Dralnu, it literally ends games. I can't believe how underrated the card is, it's devastating in the right build. I'm not sure it would be a perfect place to have it here without adding a lot more looting, but I definitely agree it's a solid card.
The 1-2 drops, I agree in theory. I've looked at a couple of other options to find - Skirk Ridge Exhumer I really like, Apprentice Necromancer has some fun times, Spellweaver Eternal, Tidehollow Sculler, Festering Mummy. I like Stromgald Crusader for pro-white and flying though, that's decent. Mummy Paramount I've tossed up too, but a vanilla fatty is still vanilla. I'd really like a copy of Relentless Dead too, but it's a hard one to find, my LGSes don't carry it at the moment.
Cards that would feel at a glance to not pull their weight:
Phyrexian Delver: While it is #value, what are you reanimating that is worth the cost?
Thassa, God of the Sea: This seems like a very expensive way to scry every turn. Yes, it lets something get in for Varina, but then that's a very expensive looting effect. You'd almost be better off running Erebos, God of the Dead at that point.
Thran Dynamo: Avoided in my wife's list; how often is the CCC helping you considering all the heavy costs in the deck?
I agree with these. I like Delver, but 5 is a lot to pay for it as well as life loss. Thassa has been OK, but I've got plenty of better scry here, and if anything I need more draw options than anything else. And yes, the Dynamo could go. I've been tossing up cheaper rocks like Fellwar Stone and Darksteel Ingot. In terms of further cuts, I'd probably add Forbidden Alchemy. I'm definitely in favour of adding things like Rhystic Study, but I don't have a copy. I've tossed up things like Distant Melody, Mentor of the Meek, Midnight Reaper, just not sure what's going to give me the best return.
I agree with these. I like Delver, but 5 is a lot to pay for it as well as life loss. Thassa has been OK, but I've got plenty of better scry here, and if anything I need more draw options than anything else. And yes, the Dynamo could go. I've been tossing up cheaper rocks like Fellwar Stone and Darksteel Ingot. In terms of further cuts, I'd probably add Forbidden Alchemy. I'm definitely in favour of adding things like Rhystic Study, but I don't have a copy. I've tossed up things like Distant Melody, Mentor of the Meek, Midnight Reaper, just not sure what's going to give me the best return.
Yeah I'd definitely drop Dynamo for cheaper ramp. Wife's list is running Dimir Signet and Orzhov Signet (and then Expedition Map, Sol Ring, and Chromatic Lantern same as you) and that's been working. If we added one more it'd be erring on the cheaper side (the better to power out Varina faster), with Coldsteel Heart or Talisman of Dominance leading the pack.
For draw, in the absence of Arena or Study I'd try Distant Melody or Midnight Reaper in Alchemy's spot. You do have Mind's Eye and Mystic Remora for repeat draw, so I think better one-shot draw or "draw on a stick" is a good place to experiment.
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I agree with these. I like Delver, but 5 is a lot to pay for it as well as life loss. Thassa has been OK, but I've got plenty of better scry here, and if anything I need more draw options than anything else. And yes, the Dynamo could go. I've been tossing up cheaper rocks like Fellwar Stone and Darksteel Ingot. In terms of further cuts, I'd probably add Forbidden Alchemy. I'm definitely in favour of adding things like Rhystic Study, but I don't have a copy. I've tossed up things like Distant Melody, Mentor of the Meek, Midnight Reaper, just not sure what's going to give me the best return.
Yeah I'd definitely drop Dynamo for cheaper ramp. Wife's list is running Dimir Signet and Orzhov Signet (and then Expedition Map, Sol Ring, and Chromatic Lantern same as you) and that's been working. If we added one more it'd be erring on the cheaper side (the better to power out Varina faster), with Coldsteel Heart or Talisman of Dominance leading the pack.
For draw, in the absence of Arena or Study I'd try Distant Melody or Midnight Reaper in Alchemy's spot. You do have Mind's Eye and Mystic Remora for repeat draw, so I think better one-shot draw or "draw on a stick" is a good place to experiment.
Thanks for the advice. I'll probably look at Midnight Reaper as a first option, should be able to pick it up for peanuts. Pretty sure I have a spare Fellwar Stone lying about too, I'll probably switch out that Dynamo pretty quick.
I got Varina in the mail yesterday, so im ready to build!
I also got midnight reaper so i am interested to see how that works.
Have you considered library of leng? It can let you skip discarding at end of turn which is run in some edh decks but usually not worth a card slot, but this one also lets you discard to the top of your library instead of GY, which could be useful in some cases. Like I said I havent played with Varina yet, but im thinking there could be some interactions discarding to your deck, first of which is discarding entreat the dead to the top of your deck.
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I got Varina in the mail yesterday, so im ready to build!
I also got midnight reaper so i am interested to see how that works.
Good stuff! I think Midnight Reaper will put in some work, at least in my build. There's plenty of sac engines here so it should do well.
Have you considered library of leng? It can let you skip discarding at end of turn which is run in some edh decks but usually not worth a card slot, but this one also lets you discard to the top of your library instead of GY, which could be useful in some cases. Like I said I havent played with Varina yet, but im thinking there could be some interactions discarding to your deck, first of which is discarding entreat the dead to the top of your deck.
I did toy with putting it in here. It's actually one of my favourite cards of all time (partly because it's one of the first decent cards I owned), and definitely one of my favourite pieces of secret tech, alongside Clock of Omens. The problem I had was that some of the discard options here include the discard as a cost, which Library doesn't impact: Liliana, Defiant Necromancer Forbid Necromancer's Stockpile Cryptbreaker
The other discard options I have here I've been thinking of cutting anyway. Ancient Excavation is cool, but Forbidden Alchemy is a bit weak and I'd prefer a permanent that generates some draw. Ideally that'd be Rhystic Study but I don't have a copy so I'll have to come up with something else. Forgotten Creation isn't going anywhere, but I really only use its effect if I'm desperate or need to fill my yard.
The other side of this is that having a full yard is really beneficial to the deck. Varina, Lich Queen's second ability is actually really handy in some cases, so having some fodder in terms of unnecessary lands/spells to exile is fairly decent. Then there's other spells that like to be in the graveyard or like things in the yard: Gravecrawler Tombstone Stairwell Diregraf Colossus Havengul Lich Liliana, Defiant Necromancer Living Death The Scarab God
Granted it's important to be careful what you toss, but thus far I've not had to make too many difficult choices. It's just a cae of making sure not to overdo it or put all your eggs in one basket. I'd definitely be interested in hearing feedback about the Library though. There's definitely a case for adding it, and I'm not averse to trying it out. I think it would fit well in a Miracle/library manipulation pseudo-lantern build, like Aminatou, the Fateshifter is intended for. I no longer run Entreat the Dead, but I can see how it would be valuable in that sort of build; I just don't want to spread my strategy too thin. Not sure if it would fit here but I'm interested to hear some feedback regardless, so by all means let me know how it pans out.
Arena fixes some recurring draw, Mummy fixes the curve a tad. The mummy gets a little cute with undying creatures and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, but I'm not too worried about that. It's a one-drop that curves into my general and can get rid of pesky dorks from time to time.
Mystic Remora - Sweet zombie Jesus (pun intended), this draw is nuts. Even one turn cycle gives me what I need. I've had some real dud hands coming through recently, and seeing this will generally get me 7-8 cards minimum which is helping me hit land drops, and I don't care if it gets destroyed. It's crazy good.
Noosegraf Mob - This has been really nice as a reanimation target. It's preferable not to hard cast, but helpful if I have to.
Mind's Eye I've had a couple of games curving from Remora directly into this, and it's hilarious.
Black Market - It's expensive, but it's been good value. It's helped out well with a couple of questionable hands and hitting enough mana. I've found it really helpful just to drop it and benefit from other people's combat while I build.
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim - She's dropped in a couple of games, and hasn't really dominated. She's a nice sacrifice option to keep life totals up with a possible optional plus side, but honestly if I had a spare Phyrexian Altar I'd probably consider cutting her. As it is, I'm keeping an eye out in bins at my LGS for Nantuko Husk and Phyrexian Ghoul.
Had another interesting playtest yesterday. Against Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Mathas, Fiend Seeker and Firesong and Sunspeaker. Took three mulligans to end up with any land and got stuck on 2 for a reasonable amount of the game. Eventually drew into Mystic Remora, first draw from it was Reliquary Tower. The tower bit a Rain of Thorns, so I decided to turf some zombies in order to get some value from Diregraf Colossus, who I cast as a 5/5. I had Tatyova swinging at me most of the game, and he had pro-black, so life totals were getting low.
A bit of durdling, a Living Death, and a couple of reanimations later, Mathas has swept, Firesong is keeping a low profile and Tatyova is at somewhere about 60 life. I've cast Noosegraf Mob once for 5 zombies, reanimated it again with Liliana Heretical Healer for another 5, and have Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim out too. I cast 3zombie and swing at Tatyova with somewhere around 60 damage, landing him on 3 life, passing turn. Firesong and Sunspeaker resolves Repercussion then casts Blasphemous Act to end the game. It's only an hour after the game finishes I realise with Grimgrin, Corpse-Born out I had the opportunity to sac my Grimgrin to Ayli in response, then sac all my other zombies to Grimgrin in response to that, clearing my board to take no damage and buffing my life total by 10 or so. No guarantee I would've won, but it was an interesting game nonetheless - especially in that the deck was able to claw back from a really slow start to still be competitive.
Happy to find a Varina thread I've done a lot of attempts at Zombie decks and she has by far been the funnest. I have a couple of pieces of tech that I employ in my build I wanted to suggest. Library of Leng was mentioned above. I also run it with Solitary Confinement, so I never have to worry about having a card to discard to Solitary Confinement between the two effects playing off of one another.
I really like Liliana, Untouched by Death in my build because Yawgmoth's Will for Zombies has been really good for me, and she helps with filling the graveyard.
Additionally, I too run Mystic Remora and Tombstone Stairwell, as well as Glacial Chasm. I realized that it would be a really good time to run Solemnity, because the deck can be pretty mana hungry without having to worry about the Cumulative Upkeep costs. When I added this, I also added Glacial Chasm because when I get going, I draw a lot of hate. So many of the pieces in an Esper Zombie deck are really scary by themselves that it doesn't take much to draw the table's attention, which is also why I run Solitary Confinement.
After that I realized I could run Mikaeus the Unhallowed, which I had planned on running anyway since it was reprinted so not as cost prohibitive, but Mikaeus, Geralf's Messenger, Solemnity and a sac outlet is a win condition by itself On top of Solemnity hosing Superfriends archetypes, OP Experience Counter Commanders, and Infect which are some of the most dangerous archetypes against a Zombie deck which tends to run at slow to medium speed building itself up in a game.
Happy to find a Varina thread Smile I've done a lot of attempts at Zombie decks and she has by far been the funnest. I have a couple of pieces of tech that I employ in my build I wanted to suggest. Library of Leng was mentioned above. I also run it with Solitary Confinement, so I never have to worry about having a card to discard to Solitary Confinement between the two effects playing off of one another.
Welcome, Kelzam! I agree, she's been a lot of fun for me! I also enjoyed Gisa and Geralf, but had much less success getting a working build going. This has been a lot of fun so far.
I really need to just suck it up and put Library of Leng in here. It sounds like it does great things.
I really like Liliana, Untouched by Death in my build because Yawgmoth's Will for Zombies has been really good for me, and she helps with filling the graveyard.
I really should give this a go. Seems like all of her abilities are relevant, her ult has a low activation cost, and Aminatou, the Fateshifter can keep her going for more value.
Additionally, I too run Mystic Remora and Tombstone Stairwell, as well as Glacial Chasm. I realized that it would be a really good time to run Solemnity, because the deck can be pretty mana hungry without having to worry about the Cumulative Upkeep costs. When I added this, I also added Glacial Chasm because when I get going, I draw a lot of hate. So many of the pieces in an Esper Zombie deck are really scary by themselves that it doesn't take much to draw the table's attention, which is also why I run Solitary Confinement.
After that I realized I could run Mikaeus the Unhallowed, which I had planned on running anyway since it was reprinted so not as cost prohibitive, but Mikaeus, Geralf's Messenger, Solemnity and a sac outlet is a win condition by itself Smile On top of Solemnity hosing Superfriends archetypes, OP Experience Counter Commanders, and Infect which are some of the most dangerous archetypes against a Zombie deck which tends to run at slow to medium speed building itself up in a game.
I had thought about Glacial Chasm. I don't have a spare, Nissa has the only copy I own, and she's not going anywhere. It is a great idea though. I like Solemnity, too - I like that it shuts down Meren and infect. Seems busted with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, although to be fair I do try to stay away from combo if possible. As it is, I'm one free sac outlet away from having that readily available to me, so I'm hesitant to add it for that reason (I do run Carrion Feeder, so I try to avoid abusing it, and this argument does sway in favour of keeping Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim). I do like it's interaction with cumulative upkeeps, but I'd almost prefer to add something that doesn't allow the same level of degeneracy - it's jank, but Power Conduit removes upkeep counters and beefs up Noosegraf Mob, Grimgrin and Coalition Relic, or there's Venser, the Sojourner. I'm not sure. I guess I could just play around the combo/counter interaction. Coalition Relic isn't the perfect rock for the deck, either. It's really just here for mana fixing.
Having said all of this, that's my own restriction - for your build, to play in with Solemnity, have you considered Decree of Silence? Griefy as hell, but it's a savage lockout win condition.
A second vote for Library of Leng, it's great in this deck.
I'm testing Alhammarret's Archive, the card draw and life gain is awesome.
Glad to see someone else playing Varina, I love the deck so far.
I'm loving it so far, too. There's enough angles that she's not a 'solved' commander, which keeps things fun.
I've thought about Alhamarret's Archive - the lifegain I couldn't care about, but double draw is nice. The problem I have with it is it does nothing unless you have extra draw out. There's options for that, sure, but I'd rather add more redundancy in setting up incremental draw. Honestly, the next addition for draw is Rhystic Study, it's just damn expensive these days. Card really needs a reprint.
I guess I'm kind of at the point of struggling for what to pull out right now, and I was hesitant about Fact, but Library is such a favourite of mine I owe it a playtest. I've been looking for Relentless for a long time, and it should help with some reanimation and resilience, as well as a very slight drop in the curve. Solemnity is a playtest - it's obviously great for Tombstone Stairwell and Mystic Remora, as well as nerfing infect and experience counter players. I'm hesitant with it around Mikaeus, the Unhallowed as I don't want to go infinite. It does nerf a couple of existing zombie cards - Noosegraf Mob, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Carrion Feeder most importantly. That being said, it doesn't remove counters already there, so it may just be a case of playing around that. Without consulting a judge, it doesn't appear to entirely turn Feeder or Grimgrin off as sacrifice outlets, which is fine by me. We'll see how it goes.
I've had a more or less zombie tribal build of some description for the last 3-4 years under various generals. I've tried Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Gisa and Geralf, and Thraximundar. None of them really suited what I wanted the build to be, so when Varina, Lich Queen was spoiled I was very excited. In fact, she's the only commander form 2018 precons that I had any interest in building.
As a commander, Varina is interesting in that there are several avenues she can run down. There's lifegain builds, attrition builds, pure tribal zombies, all-in reanimator, token swarm, library manipulation/miracle, combo...she's remarkably versatile. In building, I knew I wanted a strong zombie theme, but I also wanted more than just to cram whatever zombies I could find in here and turn them sideways. In fact, of the strategies mentioned above, there's probably a little bit of everything here, so as the title suggests it's probably a midrange build. Varina suits this well; she's naturally got a lot of filtering power on her attack trigger, she has some life gain, she dumps to graveyard, and she likes company.
I've always liked reanimation strategies, and this deck should make that obvious. It plays in really well with attrition with zombies, specifically with lords like Diregraf Captain, Vengeful Dead and Wayward Servant. Being able to pump out tokens makes this a valuable strategy, and there's some real gems for zombie tokens too - Tombstone Stairwell, Diregraf Colossus and Ghoulcaller Gisa. As well as this, we need an element of control too - we need to be able to make sure the board state favours us - a lot of times that means wiping it clean, or removing key pieces where needed. Regardless, there's a lot of tools in our belt, and victory is often just assessing what works best for us in the scenario we find ourselves in.
4 Varina, Lich Queen
Creatures
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Cryptbreaker
1 Gravecrawler
2 Relentless Dead
2 Shepherd of Rot
2 Soul Diviner
2 Undead Augur
2 Wayward Servant
2 Withered Wretch
3 Cemetery Reaper
3 Death Baron
3 Diregraf Captain
3 Diregraf Colossus
3 Lord of the Accursed
3 Midnight Reaper
3 Plague Belcher
3 Zombie Master
4 Agent of Erebos
4 Graveborn Muse
4 Vengeful Dead
5 Archfiend of Ifnir
5 God-Eternal Oketra
5 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
5 Havengul Lich
5 Noxious Ghoul
5 The Scarab God
5 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
6 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Sol Ring
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Talisman of Hierarchy
2 Dimir Signet
2 Orzhov Signet
3 Ashnod's Altar
5 Alhammarret's Archive
5 Eldrazi Monument
Enchantments
1 Graf Harvest
1 Mystic Remora
2 Zombie Infestation
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Infernal Darkness
4 Smothering Tithe
4 Tombstone Stairwell
5 Kindred Discovery
Instants
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Despark
3 Anguished Unmaking
3 Generous Gift
4 Ancient Excavation
4 Return to Dust
4 Utter End
Sorceries
3 Citywide Bust
3 Windfall
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Whispering Madness
5 Living Death
5 Patriarch's Bidding
6 Austere Command
6 Zombie Apocalypse
4 Liliana, Untouched by Death
Lands
1 Command tower
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Unclaimed Territory
1 Fetid Pools
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Watery Grave
1 Choked Estuary
1 Port Town
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
8 Swamp
5 Island
6 Plains
All this being said, it's important to choose your spells carefully. We're running a fairly lean engine and won't generally have a huge surplus of spare mana unless things go exceptionally well. It can happen, but it's rare enough to not plan around. So with this in mind, we're more or less never going to look at playing our hand out and entering topdeck mode. We're looking at making optimal plays, maximising our advantage as cheaply as we can and incrementally advancing our game. This also gives us valuable options for Varina's trigger. It's important to note that while she does draw you cards, she makes you discard as many, so keeping cards in hand is important. It's part of why she's worked so well with a midrange strategy - we play optimally, swing to sculpt our hand, and set ourselves up with options. If we vomit our hand on to the board, we're really just filling our yard sub-optimally and keeping nothing back for answers.
This segues us into a fairly appropriate topic at a good time. It's important to know what to toss and when to toss it. This is going to happen a lot - Varina's filtering is fantastic, but you're not ever going to be able to keep all of the cards in hand you want to. This is fairly convenient in that there's a reasonable degree to graveyard interaction in the tribe, and in the spells I've chosen for the list. It will also mean that there are sometimes hard choices to make; do you keep land drops, do you hold up removal, reanimation, creatures? The situation will vary, but don't be afraid to turf land drops or wipes if you have redundancy in hand. After all, that's what Varina's second ability is for. You shouldn't be afraid to use this either. It's instant speed, can give you board presence to untap with on your turn and can turn your excess land or spells you don't need right now into advantage and further filtering next combat.
My strategy is to leverage my most powerful strategies without going fully infinite or comboing. There's plenty here, and dropping the right spell at the right time while building momentum will allow us to do plenty and stay relevant. Usually I try to maintain a fairly low profile early and build some momentum while I dig for my clutch cards. That's part of why I've chosen the cards I've chosen - all of my draw is pretty burst related, so that I can discard for value and reanimation, and dig deep. There are specific cards in the deck that fit well together, so depending what we have in hand, we're digging for reasonably specific things to pair up or work those synergies.
What follows below is a non-exhaustive description of some of the stronger synergies on offer here and how they get us ahead:
Aristocrats:
Aminatou, Walkers and Age counters
She's sort of our draw fixer and swiss army knife. Her first ability is nice, but her value is superb for the second ability. She resets counters on things and gives us extra ETB triggers. We have three walkers here, 2 of which she can blink, and we have 2 strong effects with cumulative upkeeps and associated age counters that she can get rid of - we'll never be entirely free of them, but she can keep them manageable (her lieutenant Soul Diviner can help here too). Not only this, she can keep our board expanding with Ghoulcaller Gisa, give us an untapped utility land, or even just untap our biggest guy for defense.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
So, we all know about Mike and his pal Trike. Trike isn't here, and we're slim on unlimited sacrifice outlets anyway. That's not what we're aiming for. He's here to keep our board presence, mostly. That being said, he is still capable of allowing some really strong interactions:
Recovery from our own board wipes (his ability goes on the stack when he dies regardless)
A rugged bleeder cycle with Wayward Servant and pals
Another one with Plague Belcher and Gravecrawler, for as much B as you have spare
A continual source of incremental draw with Soul Diviner
Again, it would be easy enough to make these combo material in a number of ways. That's not what I'm going for, but don't let it stop you - most of these interactions would go infinite with Rooftop Storm or Phyrexian Altar/Ashnod's Altar. He's also going to be an immediate target regardless, so it's really important to make sure you cast him when it's worth casting him. Casting him to an empty board and passing turn is a bad idea and won't get you far at all. He's best cheated into play considering his CMC, but that can telegraph a little. Ideally, however it's managed, we want to drop him into an existing board with some interactive components already in place - Eldrazi Monument, Noosegraf Mob, Carrion Feeder, whatever you can find, Mike is the last piece you want to cast before you leverage him for profit.
Removal
Archfiend of Ifnir
He's not a zombie. He is, however, absolutely devastating. Combine him with Varina's attack trigger, Forgotten Creation's upkeep trigger, or any of the other loot effects we have, and we can literally flatten the rest of the board, with permanence. As a plus, he will kill indestructibles, too.
Noxious Ghoul
While not quite as strong due to the impermanent nature of his effect, with Tombstone Stairwell, Noosegraf Mob, Open the Graves or Endless Ranks of the Dead it can wreck a board state too. Devastating coming into play from a Living Death resolution as well.
The Win
These strategies have been listed in terms of efficacy. Our bleeders can win, and win easy. They're mostly cheap, they're plentiful and easy to assemble. We can do some great reanimation tricks, which are a ton of fun. We can generate a lot of advantage with our walkers, and we can break down a board state with relative efficacy.
That being said, sometimes it won't all come together well. That's where we fall back to our base game plan - we turn sideways. We have a fairly high density of lords and their pump effects, and we have options for evasion too. Eldrazi Monument can win games with 3-4 creatures on board (thanks Gravecrawler!). Graf Harvest or Lord of the Accursed gives us twice the attack power against other creatures. Death Baron makes sure we trade well in combat, and so does Vault of the Archangel. And the great part of all of this is that Varina draws us into further juice and further life gain every time we swing, even if we don't swing with her. There's an air of inevitability to this - if we're not dealt with, we will eventually gather enough momentum to roll over for the win. Even if our stuff gets removed, Varina can exile it for tokens, as can Graf Harvest. When this happens it's not a glamorous win, but it gets you over the line, and that's what counts.
And there it is for now. There's still a few bits under consideration as I'm able to find them or afford them:
Corpse Harvester
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
I'm pretty happy with how the deck is running at the moment, the only real issue it has is colour fixing from time to time, but otherwise it's remarkably solid, and it's a lot of fun to play. No two games are exactly the same, and at present it's probably my most successful existing deck.
Feel free to critique, offer strategies or suggestions or just generally discuss. This deck isn't going anywhere, and I'm very much open to assessment of future amendments.
Enjoy!
Toc
First impressions: lots of fun to play, plenty of options and the deck is pretty quick to get running, too. Varina l’s second ability is more relevant than I thought it’d be, too. Being able to exile a couple lands outside of your turn to have a chump blocker or a zombie to swing with and get some draw is decent value.
It’ll take a few games to see what plays well and what doesn’t, but what I saw today was nice. Forgotten Creation performed well against Thantis, the Warweaver. I also had a nice little synergy dumping to the graveyard then playing Tombstone Stairwell, using Phyrexian Delver to bring back Noxious Ghoul. Complete board wipe for a small upkeep cost.
What eventually won the game though was embalming Aven Wind Guide and swinging in. Lord of the accursed did well, too, which I’m pleased about as I was unsure about its inclusion.
This deck moves reasonably quickly. It works best as a pseudo-control / midrange build, in that you can swing with relative impunity but it's also of importance that you hold something back for answers, sculpt your hand and graveyard, and have contingency plans. Which is fine, because there's a reasonable number of cards that care about zombies dying, so I can make that hurt.
The biggest things to account for are regular draw (burst draw hasn't been a problem thus far) and colour fixing. Without fetches (which I won't be buying anytime soon) I've found this more important than big mana to date. I can do big mana with coffers, but it's not entirely necessary. So long as I can play something impactful each turn, I'm fine.
I'm happy with the 'walkers, too - Animatou, the Fateshifter has two very relevant abilities, and I guess that ultimate could come in handy at some point (although I really like the idea of a walker that focuses more on mid-game relevance than a win-con. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage has been alright, too. Again, I'm not gunning for her ultimate (as much as I wouldn't say no to it). Her +1 has been really handy for removing problematic creatures from combat and shutting down Voltron strategies. She's not always fantastic, which means sometimes she will get discarded, but it does become apparent when she will see some use.
Here's the update thus far:
2 Necromancer's Stockpile
5 Grotesque Hybrid
4 Rite of Replication
2 Treasure Hunt
3 Equipoise
4 Door of Destinies
2 Dimir Signet
2 Orzhov Signet
4 Faith's Reward
3 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Zombie Infestation
5 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
1 Unearth
1 Brainstorm
3 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Buried Alive
3 Coalition Relic
2 Azorius Signet
3 Forbid
4 Rewind
So there were some things I wanted to change up - more looting and draw filtering, fixing the right colours (I figured out I had the wrong signets in here), and a little more board control. The amount of creatures Unearth can bring back is pretty staggering, so that's nice. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is here as a sac engine, solid combat beater and targeted removal engine, and I see him doing good things. Necromancer's Stockpile was a little mana hungry, and given the average CMC I don't mind hard-casting most of the creatures here, so it was kind of zero sum. Zombie Infestation I don't need to hold up mana for, don't need to (but still can if I want to) discard creatures for, and the tokens come into play untapped.
I also have a couple of staples on the way from my LGS, Chromatic Lantern, Mystic Remora, and I'd also like to try out Open the Graves as a decent token generator. Further playtesting will see how all that plays out, time will tell.
I did make a couple of misplays - I Entreat the Deaded, filling my board, and had Forbid in hand with 4 other cards. I resolved it against a wipe, bought it back once, and for the next counter I let it go to graveyard, at which point Oloro locked me out with Humility. From that point in I really couldn't achieve much past Glacial Chasm, Solemnity and Decree of Silence. It was a very solid lock. I had a single moment to win prior to Humility dropping. I had Grimgrin, Corpse-Born in play, so I should have sacrificed my board in response to cause more bleeder effects. It would have ended the game, but I missed my chance.
It was a lot of fun, and I was happy with how the deck performed. The Oloro player also ran through my decklist with me and went over some suggestions, so it was nice to get some feedback as to where I should go. There are a couple of additions that I'd like to make, and a couple of cuts I'm pretty set on now;
To be added:
Havengul Lich
Corpse Harvester
Black Market
Shadows of the Past
Mystic Remora
Chromatic Lantern
Citywide Bust or Retribution of the Meek - the latter got damn expensive...
Supreme Verdict
Austere Command
Open the Graves
For consideration:
Noosegraf Mob
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
Altar of the Brood
Gravespawn Sovereign
To remove:
Call to the Grave
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Aven Wind Guide
Gisa and Geralf
Entreat the Dead
Binding Mummy
Unbreathing Horde
Gempalm Polluter
Animatou's Augury
Fact or Fiction
I'd really like to playtest some of this before I make any wide sweeping changes, but there are some definite adds here. Corpse Harvester is a must, Black Market should give obscene value, the sweeps are necessary and Remora should be excellent. I'm also aware that there are more adds than cuts at present. This sort of presents a list for eventual testing and adjustments, so it remains to be seen how much of this is locked in for definite adds.
As far as maybes go, I really like Ayli. Her exile is legit, although I'm currently unsure of whether I can keep my life total above 50 regularly, which is the main reason it's a maybe. The Altar is strong, but I feel like its a meta call. It might be spreading my strategies too thin to try and mill people out, but it does play well with some of the reanimation tactics I employ, so I'm on the fence there too. Noosegraf would get silly with [c]Mikaeus the Unhallowed, but otherwise I think there are probably plenty of easy enough way to get zombies in play, and I have better options. I like Gravespawn theoretically, but it costs a lot to cast and does nothing on it's own. Instant speed reanimation is nothing to scoff at, but it does also force a decision - attack or reanimate? So I'm unsure. The CMC alone has me on the fence about it.
All in all thus far I'm really happy with how this is playing, and it's been a lot of fun. Getting lots of positive comments back too, so that's always nice.
Yeah, that all sounds pretty solid. There is a reasonable degree of variability in how to build around Varina. For myself, I don't mind blowing the board up, considering me losing my zombies is going to hurt everyone else. Plus, I like building a degree of flexibility into my decks. There's enough zombies around now to stack a deck full of zombie lords, some pump spells and turn them sideways, but I like having the option of taking a couple of different avenues when needed.
Yeah Varina is suprisinglly a versatile commander for ZOmbies compared to others. Can go full on Zombie lords, Self mill to revive them or full on tokens. Need to find wich build is mroe succefull and its reealloy hard to choose wich zombies to include. Access to Anointed Procession makes so mutch diference
It's interesting though, I only really find myself playing Varina when I need to dig deep for answers. Her abilities are super valuable, but if I have everything I need and adequate draw in my hand it doesn't matter so much. It's nice being able to drum up a token at instant speed for chumping, and it's a good feeling knowing I don't need to rely on casting my commander. To me that seems a good sign, but it's something I don't necessarily find with every deck I build.
edit:
I had a couple of adds from my collection, so I've made a couple of the changes I spoke of above.
In:
Havengul Lich
Shadows of the Past
Out:
Gempalm Polluter
Loyal Subordinate
I've been a bit hesitant about adding the Lich, because I was unsure of how many activated abilities he could actually use and abuse. Plus, he's expensive reanimation. We can get around that, but here's the list of what he can take advantage of:
1 Carrion feeder
1 Crytpbreaker
1 Varina, lich queen
1 Shepherd of rot
1 Cemetery reaper
1 Lord of the accursed
1 Thassa, god of the sea
1 Zombie trailblazer
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-born
1 The Scarab God
1 Corpse Harvester
1 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
1 Gravespawn Sovereign
So, it's not without uses, and it'll help with consistent access to sac outlets, draw, scry, combat evasion, buffs and so forth.
Shadows should see some work. It'll be nuts with Tombstone Stairwell and any sac outlets I can find. I'm not overly interested in the second ability, but it might see use, you never know.
3 Chromatic Lantern
5 Mind's Eye
1 Mystic Remora
2 Necromancer's Stockpile
5 Black Market
5 Open the Graves
2 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
2 Withered Wretch
3 Citywide Bust
4 Supreme Verdict
6 Austere Command
5 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
2 Azorius Signet
2 Zombie Infestation
5 Call to the Grave
5 Kindred Discovery
1 Brainstorm
3 Entreat the Dead
8 Aminatou's Augury
3 Unbreathing Horde
4 Aven Wind Guide
4 Gisa and Geralf
4 Josu Vess, Lich Knight
So a lot of this is tidying up some overcosted zombies that weren't having the impact I wanted - there's enough zombies around now that there's no excuse for weak choices. The rest is mana fixing, draw fixing, and giving myself some decent token generators and sac outlets. Ayli, I'm not sure about. She could be awesome, or underwhelming. Likewise with Noosegraf; it's not cheap, but it'll be interesting enough with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.
There's another couple of options I'd like to pick up, although it might take a little while to track them down: Corpse Harvester and Ashnod's Altar. I'd go for Phyrexian Altar otherwise, but I suspect the limited reprint is unlikely to cause any significant drop in price.
The Jodah player took me down to 15 before I decreed. It was worth it to refill hand for 7 and keep the board empty. I spent the rest of the game clawing back from 5 life, and evenutally it turned into a 1v1 against Jodah. He cast Iona, shield of Emeria naming black, but I had The Scarab God and exiled Diregraf Captain and Vengeful Dead for copies, then Supreme Verdicted.
Guy definitely didn't hit his land drops, and eventually I Return to Dusted his Chromatic Lantern and Wurmcoil Engine to really slow him down. Varina helped me keep above zero and dig, Scarab helped me bleed him and keep a board presence, and I eventually swung in for 19 against an empty board to win.
It was a very slow start for me so I thought it was a complete flop of a game at one point. Jodah even alpha struck me then said 'gg?', but I was pleased to be able to fight back and make everything hurt for him. Pleased with the extra sweeps thus far - I haven't really been able to check much else out, but thus far I'm really happy with the deck at present.
How has citywide bust worked out for you? It looks interesting but im not sure if I would play it.
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So I guess yeah, it seems an obvious choice. I've run it in zombie builds before. There's a couple of reasons I'm not running it presently:
Being absolutely honest, I haven't drawn it to see how it plays with my other pieces yet. I would definitely prefer Retribution of the Meek, but that thing jumped to like $15 NZD, so this is a cheaper and close enough alternative. I guess I could've added Elspeth, Sun's Champion, but it's higher on the curve than I'd like. I can't see Citywide Bust being a terrible fit though; there are some pieces of mine that it kills - Varina, Havengul Lich, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, but I generally don't mind my stuff dying anyhow, so long as it dies for value, and I can generally make that happen. I just see it as more of a 'judicious use' sweeper - use in case of dinosaurs, etc. I'll definitely report back once I've got some gameplay in with it though.
A few other cards from her list that have been amazing so far:
Necromancer's Covenant: Again, she's got a full mill plan with Altar of the Brood, Altar of Dementia, Embalmer's Tools, and Geth, Lord of the Vault so this card usually has lots of hits whereas it may not for you, but it has been very good every time she casts it and it's only sat useless in her hand once in five or six games.
Archfiend of Ifnir: The only non-zombie she runs (minus Vizier of Many Faces), but it has been absolutely devastating in the two games she's drawn it.
Putrid Imp, Mummy Paramount, Graveyard Marshal, Fanbearer, Stromgald Crusader, Butcher Ghoul: Some of these are low power, but they've been crucial in making sure the deck has a critical mass of 1 and 2-drops. Varina rewards you for filling the 3-slot with Lords and then dropping her on turn 4 to start looting, which means running some oddball creatures to help curve out.
I will say she has run Rooftop Storm and has only drawn it thrice, but it generally has been pretty "win-more" and she's held it in hand one of those games since it was overkill. It did allow her to instantly recover from a Cyclonic Rift once (better than recover, actually, thanks to Diregraf Colossus), but it definitely isn't as amazing here as it can be in say Thraximundar.
Cards that would feel at a glance to not pull their weight:
Phyrexian Delver: While it is #value, what are you reanimating that is worth the cost?
Thassa, God of the Sea: This seems like a very expensive way to scry every turn. Yes, it lets something get in for Varina, but then that's a very expensive looting effect. You'd almost be better off running Erebos, God of the Dead at that point.
Thran Dynamo: Avoided in my wife's list; how often is the CCC helping you considering all the heavy costs in the deck?
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Seeing lots of cards, great. Keeping a full hand, well...I keep enough in hand most of the time. But then I also don't mind looting so much here. It is something I'm looking for in most hands though, so if I don't have draw or rocks I mull. I may well consider adding some of these, the draw really is clutch here. I can scrape by without it, but it really does make things to smooth.
I run Archfiend of Ifnir in Dralnu, it literally ends games. I can't believe how underrated the card is, it's devastating in the right build. I'm not sure it would be a perfect place to have it here without adding a lot more looting, but I definitely agree it's a solid card.
The 1-2 drops, I agree in theory. I've looked at a couple of other options to find - Skirk Ridge Exhumer I really like, Apprentice Necromancer has some fun times, Spellweaver Eternal, Tidehollow Sculler, Festering Mummy. I like Stromgald Crusader for pro-white and flying though, that's decent. Mummy Paramount I've tossed up too, but a vanilla fatty is still vanilla. I'd really like a copy of Relentless Dead too, but it's a hard one to find, my LGSes don't carry it at the moment.
I agree with these. I like Delver, but 5 is a lot to pay for it as well as life loss. Thassa has been OK, but I've got plenty of better scry here, and if anything I need more draw options than anything else. And yes, the Dynamo could go. I've been tossing up cheaper rocks like Fellwar Stone and Darksteel Ingot. In terms of further cuts, I'd probably add Forbidden Alchemy. I'm definitely in favour of adding things like Rhystic Study, but I don't have a copy. I've tossed up things like Distant Melody, Mentor of the Meek, Midnight Reaper, just not sure what's going to give me the best return.
Yeah I'd definitely drop Dynamo for cheaper ramp. Wife's list is running Dimir Signet and Orzhov Signet (and then Expedition Map, Sol Ring, and Chromatic Lantern same as you) and that's been working. If we added one more it'd be erring on the cheaper side (the better to power out Varina faster), with Coldsteel Heart or Talisman of Dominance leading the pack.
For draw, in the absence of Arena or Study I'd try Distant Melody or Midnight Reaper in Alchemy's spot. You do have Mind's Eye and Mystic Remora for repeat draw, so I think better one-shot draw or "draw on a stick" is a good place to experiment.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Thanks for the advice. I'll probably look at Midnight Reaper as a first option, should be able to pick it up for peanuts. Pretty sure I have a spare Fellwar Stone lying about too, I'll probably switch out that Dynamo pretty quick.
I also got midnight reaper so i am interested to see how that works.
Have you considered library of leng? It can let you skip discarding at end of turn which is run in some edh decks but usually not worth a card slot, but this one also lets you discard to the top of your library instead of GY, which could be useful in some cases. Like I said I havent played with Varina yet, but im thinking there could be some interactions discarding to your deck, first of which is discarding entreat the dead to the top of your deck.
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Good stuff! I think Midnight Reaper will put in some work, at least in my build. There's plenty of sac engines here so it should do well.
I did toy with putting it in here. It's actually one of my favourite cards of all time (partly because it's one of the first decent cards I owned), and definitely one of my favourite pieces of secret tech, alongside Clock of Omens. The problem I had was that some of the discard options here include the discard as a cost, which Library doesn't impact:
Liliana, Defiant Necromancer
Forbid
Necromancer's Stockpile
Cryptbreaker
The other discard options I have here I've been thinking of cutting anyway. Ancient Excavation is cool, but Forbidden Alchemy is a bit weak and I'd prefer a permanent that generates some draw. Ideally that'd be Rhystic Study but I don't have a copy so I'll have to come up with something else. Forgotten Creation isn't going anywhere, but I really only use its effect if I'm desperate or need to fill my yard.
The other side of this is that having a full yard is really beneficial to the deck. Varina, Lich Queen's second ability is actually really handy in some cases, so having some fodder in terms of unnecessary lands/spells to exile is fairly decent. Then there's other spells that like to be in the graveyard or like things in the yard:
Gravecrawler
Tombstone Stairwell
Diregraf Colossus
Havengul Lich
Liliana, Defiant Necromancer
Living Death
The Scarab God
Granted it's important to be careful what you toss, but thus far I've not had to make too many difficult choices. It's just a cae of making sure not to overdo it or put all your eggs in one basket. I'd definitely be interested in hearing feedback about the Library though. There's definitely a case for adding it, and I'm not averse to trying it out. I think it would fit well in a Miracle/library manipulation pseudo-lantern build, like Aminatou, the Fateshifter is intended for. I no longer run Entreat the Dead, but I can see how it would be valuable in that sort of build; I just don't want to spread my strategy too thin. Not sure if it would fit here but I'm interested to hear some feedback regardless, so by all means let me know how it pans out.
EDIT: Small overnight change:
In: Fellwar Stone
Out: Thran Dynamo
Easy choice. 2 cheaper, enters untapped, and we run 2 of the most popular colours in EDH.
In:
Phyrexian Arena
Festering Mummy
Out:
Forbidden Alchemy
Phyrexian Delver
Arena fixes some recurring draw, Mummy fixes the curve a tad. The mummy gets a little cute with undying creatures and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, but I'm not too worried about that. It's a one-drop that curves into my general and can get rid of pesky dorks from time to time.
Had another interesting playtest yesterday. Against Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Mathas, Fiend Seeker and Firesong and Sunspeaker. Took three mulligans to end up with any land and got stuck on 2 for a reasonable amount of the game. Eventually drew into Mystic Remora, first draw from it was Reliquary Tower. The tower bit a Rain of Thorns, so I decided to turf some zombies in order to get some value from Diregraf Colossus, who I cast as a 5/5. I had Tatyova swinging at me most of the game, and he had pro-black, so life totals were getting low.
A bit of durdling, a Living Death, and a couple of reanimations later, Mathas has swept, Firesong is keeping a low profile and Tatyova is at somewhere about 60 life. I've cast Noosegraf Mob once for 5 zombies, reanimated it again with Liliana Heretical Healer for another 5, and have Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim out too. I cast 3 zombie and swing at Tatyova with somewhere around 60 damage, landing him on 3 life, passing turn. Firesong and Sunspeaker resolves Repercussion then casts Blasphemous Act to end the game. It's only an hour after the game finishes I realise with Grimgrin, Corpse-Born out I had the opportunity to sac my Grimgrin to Ayli in response, then sac all my other zombies to Grimgrin in response to that, clearing my board to take no damage and buffing my life total by 10 or so. No guarantee I would've won, but it was an interesting game nonetheless - especially in that the deck was able to claw back from a really slow start to still be competitive.
I really like Liliana, Untouched by Death in my build because Yawgmoth's Will for Zombies has been really good for me, and she helps with filling the graveyard.
Additionally, I too run Mystic Remora and Tombstone Stairwell, as well as Glacial Chasm. I realized that it would be a really good time to run Solemnity, because the deck can be pretty mana hungry without having to worry about the Cumulative Upkeep costs. When I added this, I also added Glacial Chasm because when I get going, I draw a lot of hate. So many of the pieces in an Esper Zombie deck are really scary by themselves that it doesn't take much to draw the table's attention, which is also why I run Solitary Confinement.
After that I realized I could run Mikaeus the Unhallowed, which I had planned on running anyway since it was reprinted so not as cost prohibitive, but Mikaeus, Geralf's Messenger, Solemnity and a sac outlet is a win condition by itself On top of Solemnity hosing Superfriends archetypes, OP Experience Counter Commanders, and Infect which are some of the most dangerous archetypes against a Zombie deck which tends to run at slow to medium speed building itself up in a game.
(Also known as Xenphire)
Welcome, Kelzam! I agree, she's been a lot of fun for me! I also enjoyed Gisa and Geralf, but had much less success getting a working build going. This has been a lot of fun so far.
I really need to just suck it up and put Library of Leng in here. It sounds like it does great things.
I really should give this a go. Seems like all of her abilities are relevant, her ult has a low activation cost, and Aminatou, the Fateshifter can keep her going for more value.
I had thought about Glacial Chasm. I don't have a spare, Nissa has the only copy I own, and she's not going anywhere. It is a great idea though. I like Solemnity, too - I like that it shuts down Meren and infect. Seems busted with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, although to be fair I do try to stay away from combo if possible. As it is, I'm one free sac outlet away from having that readily available to me, so I'm hesitant to add it for that reason (I do run Carrion Feeder, so I try to avoid abusing it, and this argument does sway in favour of keeping Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim). I do like it's interaction with cumulative upkeeps, but I'd almost prefer to add something that doesn't allow the same level of degeneracy - it's jank, but Power Conduit removes upkeep counters and beefs up Noosegraf Mob, Grimgrin and Coalition Relic, or there's Venser, the Sojourner. I'm not sure. I guess I could just play around the combo/counter interaction. Coalition Relic isn't the perfect rock for the deck, either. It's really just here for mana fixing.
Having said all of this, that's my own restriction - for your build, to play in with Solemnity, have you considered Decree of Silence? Griefy as hell, but it's a savage lockout win condition.
I'm testing Alhammarret's Archive, the card draw and life gain is awesome.
Glad to see someone else playing Varina, I love the deck so far.
Competitive
GUWB Thrasios/Tymna Breakfast Hulk GUWB - RGBW Tana/Tymna Blood Pod - URGAnimar, Soul of ElementsURG - UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU
Tuned
UBG Sidisi, Brood Tyrant (Write Up) UBG-BG The Gitrog Monster BG-UG Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca UG - UBG Muldrota, the Gravetide UBG - UBW Varina, Lich Queen UBW - RB Xantcha, Sleeper Agent RB - UB Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow UB - GWURafiq of the Many GWU - WUB Oloro, Ageless Lich WUB - GUBRKydele, Chosen of Kruphix and Vial Smasher The Fierce GUBR - BG Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons GB - WB Athreos, God of Passage WB - UBThe Scarab God UB - UBRMarchesa, the Affinity RoseUBR - UBGTasigur, the Golden FangUBG - GSelvala, Heart of the WildsG - BRGrusilda, Monster MasherBR - BChainer, Dementia MasterB - WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG - URMizzix's Thousand Year StormUR - RGOmnath, Locust of RageRG - GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestGU - WUBrago, King EternalWU
Legecy Decks
W Death and Taxes W-C Eldrazi Stompy C-R Mono Red Prison R-U MerfolkU
I'm loving it so far, too. There's enough angles that she's not a 'solved' commander, which keeps things fun.
I've thought about Alhamarret's Archive - the lifegain I couldn't care about, but double draw is nice. The problem I have with it is it does nothing unless you have extra draw out. There's options for that, sure, but I'd rather add more redundancy in setting up incremental draw. Honestly, the next addition for draw is Rhystic Study, it's just damn expensive these days. Card really needs a reprint.
Anyway, I've made a couple changes over the weekend:
+ Library of Leng
+ Relentless Dead
+ Solemnity
- Thassa, God of the Sea
- Fact or Fiction
- Shadows of the Past
I guess I'm kind of at the point of struggling for what to pull out right now, and I was hesitant about Fact, but Library is such a favourite of mine I owe it a playtest. I've been looking for Relentless for a long time, and it should help with some reanimation and resilience, as well as a very slight drop in the curve. Solemnity is a playtest - it's obviously great for Tombstone Stairwell and Mystic Remora, as well as nerfing infect and experience counter players. I'm hesitant with it around Mikaeus, the Unhallowed as I don't want to go infinite. It does nerf a couple of existing zombie cards - Noosegraf Mob, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Carrion Feeder most importantly. That being said, it doesn't remove counters already there, so it may just be a case of playing around that. Without consulting a judge, it doesn't appear to entirely turn Feeder or Grimgrin off as sacrifice outlets, which is fine by me. We'll see how it goes.