"aah, there is no use go run and hide
you can't escape this sea of sunken eyes"
Phantom Planet - Living Dead
WELCOME TO ZOMBIE'S PRIMER THE BRAIN EATERS
This is a thread focused to dissect every reliable way to needlework zombie cards, analyzing card per card 'til the last blood drop from their corpse.
PART 1. GENERAL ANALYSIS
Zombies are undead creatures living to feed their hunger for flesh meet (specially brains). They differ from other undead beings on speed (generally slower) and intelligence (they’re generally mindless, with a few exceptions). The lack of intelligence has a positive factor, they face no moral debate, have no ego to feed, nourish no survival instinct.
Zombies are usually portrayed as graveyard dwellers, so despite not been fully the truth, this reflects on game mechanics, since it's where relies their major ability, mess with graveyard, and this ability, added to the ability to generate tokens from a low cost, are the best feature of this tribe.
As general approach, power/toughness of zombies are not favorable, except for suicidal cards, where must pay a tax (life) to play with pumped critters. That said, and like aforementioned, aggroing is not the best feature of this tribe, but taking advantage of their ability to rise from their grave, and to multiply very easily (tokens)
The biggest threat this tribe can face is grave hate: Relic of Progenitus, Tormod’s Crypt, Leyline of the Void, Extirpate, these cards can shut us down badly in most builds, and these are the cards that Zombies should fear if they had any trace of feelings or smartness, so we, as their wise masters, must have for them. For countermeasures, targeted discard is the best shot on mono-black.
So protect against hate, and due the diversity of zombie abilities, this is a tribe that can generate tons of different and fun decks, relying on almost all strategies Magic can provide (discard, combo, agro, control, agro/control, ramp, reanimation…) leading to a vast number of archetypes.
But before exploring the archetypes mentioned, let’s gain knowledge of zombie cards and their function, so it makes easier to create your own building. Cards will be divided by: Lands, Beaters, Discard Outlets, Sacrifice Outlets, Cyclers, Grave Dealers, Removal Creatures, Life Reducers, Hand Control, Lords, Other Creatures and Support cards. BBRRAAIINNNSS!
PART 2. THE CARDS
LANDS: here will be described all common lands used to help zombies to achieve their diverse goals.
Unholy Grotto: the main Zombie land, plays around the central ability of the tribe, retrieving creatures back to player hand.
Wasteland: mana denial. Since most zombie decks are mono color, it can screw any dual/tri-color decks, without compromising the deck’s mana base. Another common usage is to kill manlands.
Mutavault: Manland .favors agro, and can be used to work with other tribal cards. Can also help to keep the steam of the deck after a mass removal.
Crumbling Necropolis: Mana Fix on U/R/B, a slow one compared to fetchs, and also comes into play tapped, but it's really nice for guys on budget and for non-explosive decks.
Grixis Panorama: Land fetch, the nice point is, it don't come down tapped, and the downside of it is that it doesn't fix right away, needing tap one other land and itself to fetch what you need. Again, a land that is better than Terramorphic Expanse to fix your mana, as long it doesn't slow you down.
Ancient Ziggurat: Mana Fix, nice for Tribal decks that differs from mono color.
Bloodstained Mire: Land Fetch, used to make your deck thinner, raising the chance to finds basic dual lands to fix mana colors.
BEATERS: These are the cards used to take down the opponent the faster you can, by playing cards with high power mana wise.
Carnophage: raw power, 2/2 for 1cmc, this is a card meant to attack 'til his death. It's runned like 1 drops of WW decks, going full power all the way. His backdrop usually is overlaped by its inflicted damage. Most used on Suicidal decks.
Sarcomancy: despite not a zombie on itself for Tribal purposes, it's overused like his zombie counterpart, Carnophage. Raw parts of 2/2 for 1 cmc, with a small backdrop, most used on suicidal decks.
Diergraf Ghoul: raw power, 2/2 for 1cmc, with a non-meaningful drawback, coming into play tapped.
Dreadwing: Flying and beating for 4 in a 1 cmc creature, really nice. Since most Zombie decks are mono-b, it's not used, but some multicolored builds runs him as a real threat.
Grixis Grimblade: awsome beater on multicolored builds, since in that kind of deck this is most times 3/2 deathtouch beater for 2cmc. But just stick with it if you assure that you'll drop multicolored permanents often.
Zombie Outlander: 2cmc 2/2 protection from green. No good when not facing green, but vs it, it really shine getting evasion and becoming a huge wall. SB material mostly.
Dauthi Ghoul: 1/1 for 2cmc, not big deal, but evasion is his power, usually backed up for a bunch of Lords, making him a killing machine. Aggro version just love him.
Blind Creeper: 3/3 beater for 2 cmc, but many times turns into a 2/2 or 1/1 which is kind of bad for aggro power. Anyway, it's a nice choice for aggro beating.
Dregscape Zombie: 2/1 for 2 cmc. reasonable beating, but he shines since he beats until he dies, then come for one last beating just for B. Cool aggro material.
Skaab Ruinator: 3cmc 5/6. It’s off main color, and have a big issue on sacrificing 3 critters to come into play (usually played on token decks). It has evasion (flying) and can be cast from grave, which makes him a permanent threat.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born: 5cmc 5/5, comes into play tapped, and needs to sac a creature to untap, but gets +1/+1 pump on the process. Has a sort of Anihilator ability, where it kill an opponent’s creature when attacking. Nice critter on UB if played with a proper support.
Rotting Giant: 3/3 for 2 cmc. His beating power is insane for black matters, and his backdrop is really easy to deal with. Aggro material.
Sangrophage: Carnophage big brother. as Rotting Giant 3/3 for 2 cmc, and as his brother, he pings your life to keep beating, but as mentioned before, his backdrop is overlaped by his raw power. Mostly used on Sui decks.
Stillmoon Cavalier: Awsome beater, 3 mana, 2/2, pro black and white, can evade, pump and gain first strike, if it could come earlier than lords, it'd be even better.
Shambling Remains: 4/3 with unearth build in for 3 cmc, sign me in. Staple on Unearth Zombies, and should on everydeck splashing red that wants to aggro.
Wretched Anurid: another 3/3 for 2 cmc that pings your life. All qualities mentioned on Sangrophage works here. Sui material.
Putrid Leech: His backdrop is the need of green, but it’s a consistent 4/4 beater for 2 cmc and some ping in your life (2 life loss per activation). Sui material, but awesome beater you splash green (very unusual color for Zombie deck though)
Putrid Raptor: 4/4 for 3+discard, really huge aggro material, and can fit any deck with the intent to beat ASAP.
Soullless One: his power is equal to all zombies on grave or in play. You can imagine how big this guy gets on a zombie deck. Despite his power, the lack of evasion or trample really makes him a non-auto inclusion.
Twisted Abomination: Versatil creatures, nice Beating power, together with his regeneration, and cycling if showed on open hand, providing card advantage. It makes this threatful creature to play with in the most diverse scenarios.
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade: mono-b loves him as a beater, specially the ones full of swamps, swampcyclers and playing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to fix mana base. It's slow, but gets really big on dedicated decks, and the regeneration makes it even more useful on mid-late beating. Advice: Dark Ritual is not good with this card, Heir needs swamps to show it’s power.
Infectious Horror: mostly a multiplayer card. It's a 4cmc card 2/2, but on every attack it deals 2 damage to every opponent. Trick card, but only shines on Multiplayer games.
DISCARD OUTLETS: Cards the lets you discard cards from your hand to archieve some deck strategy.
Putrid Imp: i guess all you guys know this putrid zombie. He is just the fastest discard outlet on magic, letting you discard all your hand with just: mana, imp, discard everything else. After some discards he also gets useful on beating since he has evasion (flying) and gets pumped.
Skirk Ridge Exhumer: some people like him as a discard outlet. Its not that great on discard compared to some other zombies because: depends on mana, and let you discard just one card at once, since tapping is involved. But at every activation, you get a Festering Goblin into play, with helps to improve removal in a proper deck.
Rotting Rats: not that strong as a discard outlet because will only provide 1 discard per cip (comes into play), but the replayability of this card is something to be explored.
Zombie Infestation: another very good discard outlet. On discarding decks, putting 2/2 into play to beat or chomp block while you keep your strategy rolling is something really cool. Almost an auto-include for discard based decks.
SACRIFICE OUTLETS: Cards that allows you sacrifice creatures and get some advantage from it in some form.
Carrion Feeder: the fastest permanent sacrifice outlet known on magic, and besides that, every creature that he sacs, pumps him permanently, so he gets bigger as other creatures from your side get dying (you can activate him every time a creature on your side is about to die). It becomes a beater late game sometimes.
Nantuko Husk: another card that can be used to sac other creatures, but his pump is just 'til EOT, although it’s a +2/+2 pump, so he can easily become a finisher in certain decks.
CYCLERS: Cycles are cards that can be used at a cheaper cost to archieve some other purpose than casting the creature itself. Provides card advantage.
Viscera Dragger: helps on filtering, also can be used from grave at cheaper cost.
Twisted Abomination: swampcycling, mana ramp, helps on improving your mana base to cast big stuff, also a nice beater, as above mentioned.
Gempalm Polluter: "burn" card. Not just replace itself giving you a card, as it reduces your opponent life equal to the number of zombies into play...one of the best zombies around but just for cycling.
Jhessian Zombies: fetch islands and swamps, key card when you're playing with a U splash and need to fecth a land and have a later beater.
GRAVE DEALERS: Cards that deals with YOUR and/or FOE's graveyard for different purposes.
Entrails Feaster: good beating card vs aggro decks. Every creature killed by you becomes fodder to increase the beating of this card. Also it screws up foe's strategy relying onto reviving creatures from grave. REALLLY fast and threatful.
Zombie Cannibal: no evasion and small beating, but its a fast card (1cmc) and can screw any strategy involving grave, such as dredge or bridge buildings, or even removing creatures as Ichorid.
Withered Wretch: solid creature, completely focused on screwing grave decks. His advantage is being able to remove multiples in a 2/2 body for 2 cmc.
Yixlid Jailer: comes into play and stops dredge, bridge, ichorid, haakon or anything that works while on grave from working. Underused, it can really wreck up many decks.
Lord of the Undead: also a Lord, so +1/+1 to every zombie. This card is the spirit of zombies, almost saying "RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE". Retrieve anything related to zombies, or removals like Nameless Inversion. I guess one of the most useful lord.
Balthor the Defiled: this card has a full deck designed for him. He is a fast manner to brings back all your zombies from your grave, if the deck is well designed can be game breaking.
Gravedigger: returns a zombie from your grave to your hand, not much used, except for specific decks like Korlash, since there are faster cards that have the same function.
Bone Dancer: steal opponent creatures that are on his graveyard, awsome if you find a way to make him pass through.
Coffin Queen: another creature stealer, at the same cmc that Bone Dancer.
Cemetery Reaper: not just clean opponent graveyard from creatures, but also provides creature advantage to it's controller, giving a 3/3 zombie token, everytime he activates.
Sedris, the Traitor King: this guy gives to all creatures in your grave UNEARH, it really shines when you can put beef one into it, then unearth them to beat. Not much explored 'til now, since it's cmc is kind of prohibitive.
Corpse Connoisseur: Buried Alive creature. Despite it's high cmc cost, it can provide a solid creature fetch and bury pattern, Kind of Korlash best friend.
Necromancer’s Covenant: clean up yours or opponent’s graveyard and fill up your board with an horde of lifelinker zombies. Steep mana cost, requires W and B, but if you manage to safetly reach it, it’s a game winner card.
REMOVAL CREATURES: Creatures designed to remove other creature(s).
Festering Goblin: a semi-Mogg Fanatic card. it can take down two 1/1 cards just chomping block one. With a proper sac outlet, you can manage its ability. Mostly a control material.
Plaguebearer: spot removal, 3 mana destroys a 2 cmc creature, each further 2 mana invested raises 1 cmc on destroyed creature. 2 cmc for 1/1. I've seen a bearer cast, followed by a goyf cast, then a goyf removal.
Fleshbag Marauder: Cruel Edicted creature, its nice since you can retrieve it with zombie grave dealers. Helps to deal with creatures mono-b can't target.
Gangrenous Zombies: mass removal. -1/-1 or -2/-2. Being a 3cmc and the tapping requirement slow it down, making it almost always replaced by Infest. It and also it forces you to run snow-covered swamps, but not really a concern.
Noxious Ghoul: one sided mass removal, a slow creature, but can really havoc in a proper deck. Each further zombie drop will put a -1/-1 on each non-zombie creatures.
Vengeful Pharaoh: unorthodox method to kill creatures, letting them to hit you. Nice creature for discard based decks, also it's solid when cast 5cmc, 5/4 deathtouch, this dude is born to kill.
DAMAGE PRODUCERS: zombies that can unleash direct damage to opponent/creature while not given by themselves (directly).
Pyre Zombie: a guy that can do 2 damage to opponent directly, and be taken back to be recast...annoying card.
Anathemancer: if facing non-basic lands, can unleash alot of damage into your opponent's face, a must go R splash vs non-basic lands decks.
Rakdos Guildmage: he can put alot of 2/1 haste goblins into play to take down opponent without risking itself, a guy where you can sink your late game mana.
Balduvian Dead: this one creates 3/1 graveborn with haste, but there is a need of creature on grave to waste.
Nightscape Master: shines on U/R splash builds: Can unleash 2 damage to creatures directly at a cost of RR.
Deadpult: catapult of zombies. Sacrifice zombie to generate direct damage, cool but still unexplored card, seems to provide potential.
LIFE REDUCERS: Cards that can reduce your opponents life directly.
Maggot Carrier: -1 life for each player when cip. Is it any good? Some decks really takes advantage of this life loss, like Rot decks.
Shepherd of Rot: has a deck built around him, faster you get advantage on damage table, faster you win the game. Really explosive, deals damage to all players equal to the number of zombies into play.
Gempalm Polluter: not just provides card advantage, but also reduce your opponent's life in the same amount of zombies out, really threatful on fast zombie builds.
Organ Grinder: if you find a reliable way to fill out your grave, this guy can become a real threat.
Vengeful Dead: pings when zombies go to graveyard. Still not abused, since it's a late drop to really benefit make it's ability worth it. A booken strategy is still to be found.
Lich Lord of Unx: more zombies, more damage, that's his motto. Not just produce tokens but this 2nd turn drop zombie can provide really hard hits as long it stays, and as long more zombies come into play.
Grixis Slavedriver: slow, but if able, can provide 2 tokens while a 4/4 creature itself for 6cmc.
HAND CONTROL: Creatures that mess with yours or opponents hand.
Tidehollow Sculler: Thoughtseize creature. Fast, nice body and remove specific threats from opponent hand, a must go on Panda Builds.
Grave Defiler: gives you CA, in a deck full of zombies, its not uncommon to draw you 2-3 cards on his cast.
Graveborn Muse: yeah, you all know her, it just refill your hand in no time for 1 life loss per card. Awsome creature, but needs some sort of sac outlet, or it can kill you. Control Material.
TOKEN PRODUCERS: Alot of cards that provide creature advantage through tokens. A new area being improved for zombies.
Skirk Ridge Exhumer: Festering Goblin producer. In fact you change a card in your hand for a Festering into play, there a some decks that can abuse it, like Zombie Madness.
Zombie Infestation: another discard outlet that fills the board with 2/2 Zombie Tokens, can also be abused on decks that share a simpathy for cards on grave.
Rotlung Reanimator: nice creature, but i don't know any deck that runs it effectively 'til now. His beating is inferior to many other cards, but the creature advantage it gives might be used in some devour or deadpult deck.
Lich Lord of Unx: this new UB guy, can not just create 1/1 tokens for UB, but also hit severely on opponents life. If you splash U and want a token producer, you found your guy.
Cemetery Reaper: how about screw your opponent creatures on grave, and put a 2/2 token into play, nice? What if this guy pump all the tokens it produces with +1/+1, even better? what if these pump goes to all your rotted beings, awsome? Ok, this is it, the AWSOME Zombie Lord and Token Producer.
Grixis Slavedriver: slow, but if able, can provide 2 tokens while a 4/4 creature itself for 6cmc.
Necromancer’s Covenant: WB decks required. Can produce tons of zombies if determinate graveyard is properly filled. Wincon card.
Army of the Damned: Puts 13 (thirteen) 2/2 Zombies into play!!! And better, it has flashback. It has a steep cost 8cmc, and the flashback 10 cmc, but if you’re able to play it, odds are that you’ll win the game.
[card]Endless Ranks of the Dead[/cards]: 4cmc, multiples your zombies into play to 1.5, threatful and flavorful card, if not responded, can change tides into the player ‘s favor (if he manages to keep at least 2 zombies into play).
Moan of the Unhallowed: 4cmc, puts two 2/2 zombies into play, and has flashback for 7cmc, but a not impressive card compared to other faster or more impacting token producers.
LORDS: Zombie Lords, they have abilities that deals with all zombies into play. Zombies is the tribe with the most Lords among all other tribes (5), including the popular elves and goblins (3 each)
Zombie Master: gives regeneration for all zombies and with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth gives evasion to all of them too. Versatile creature.
Death Baron: new stuff! pumps +1/+1 to all zombies, also give them deathtouch. Really great when your meta is big stuff. Not much used so far.
Undead Warchief: pumps +2/+1 each zombie and also makes all faster, many, many zombie decks runs him for the fastness and beating power that he provides.
Lord of the Undead: also a Grave Dealer. Pumps every zombies +1/+1, but its special skill is to keep bringing back wasted zombie to your hand. It provides a CA that helps alot late game steam either on combo or beating.
Cemetery Reaper: +1/+1 pump to all zombies, pack with grave hate and token producing. A really strong card, the best choice vs many MUs.
OTHER RELEVANT CARDS: other creatures or cards that still are not present on viable zombie decks, but with alot of potencial; AND support cards commonly used to back up zombies.
Nightscape Familiar: Multicolor Zombie Banneret, it's a key card on R/U builds.
Bridge from Below: just is runned on decks build around it, produces zombies as creatures get dead.
Rooftop Storm: blue card and 6cmc, but allows you to cast zombie spell for 0, yep, you can cast all zombie spells for free.
Midnight Ritual: works on decks with mana ramp. Fills the board with tons of creatures. Never saw a really working deck that runs it.
Undead Gladiator: nice beater, it costs 3 which is a little slower than other beaters, but its recursive. Guess some people should try him more.
Zombie Trailblazer: to give evasion to zombies its subpar compared to Zombie Master. But the user (Nameless One) suggested a mana denial deck based on him. Dark Ritual + Zombie Trailblazer would be really a lock down. We should build a deck around it. Any ideas and i complete this premier.
Lord of Tresserhorn: 10/4 that regenerates for 4 mana? Guess Grixis decks will run it.
Tombstone Stairwell: another card to build around it. Never saw a Zombie deck that runs it in an effective way, but heard about a combo with Vengeful Dead.
Dark Ritual: many mono-black decks have ritual to speed things up, and since zombies are mono-b (at least the majority of the lists), its a staple card.
Duress: since mono-b can't deal with Artfacts and Enchantments, taking these cards out of opponent hand before cast is essential. Thoughtseize and Distress are also played.
Night's Whisper: CA from black. Since most CA zombies are at a high cmc, fast zombie decks runs this card to fill its hand.
Sign in Blood: a better version of Whisper, since you can hit opponent for a final 2 damage.
AEther Vial: since counter decks slows you down alot, this card becomes vital, even more, because it allow you to double drop every turn.
These are the most used cards on Zombie builds, but there are alot of cards that just fits specific strategies.
PART 3. ZOMBIES ARCHETYPES
There are tons of zombies archetypes, that is what makes this tribe so fun. Here i'll list some present archetypes and samples builds to help figure it out.
ZOMBIE BRIDGE: its a recent archetype, that came with Bridge from Below release. The idea is to create a huge pumped army pretty fast and win by beating.
Strong Point: fast deck, and since you run a lord, you can manage to keep into the game without Bridge.
Weak Point: Grave hate gives you alot of dead cards, and that's not cool. Run out of steam pretty fast.
ZOMBIES OF ROT: its a suicidal deck variant, this deck takes advantage of self-pinging to unleash direct life loss to win.
Strong Point: direct damage, pretty hard to opponent avoid it.
Weak Point: you life gets down in the same rate you take his, so you always win on the red zone. So if you can't keep in front on damage race, you just loose faster than you can do something about.
ZOMBIES DEFILED: reanimation deck that runs around Balthor the Defiled.
Strong Point: Many ways to accell your mana and keep casting big stuff, Korlash keep coming back to push your mana up.
Weak Point: slow deck with alot of dead draw, usually lands. Extirpate on Korlash is also bad.
SUICIDAL ZOMBIES: pure aggro deck with the backdrop of big creature mana wise, life loss.
Strong Point: huge beating, closes game pretty fast
Weak Point: vs any deck with a high damage inflicting power, the backdrop of the cards become relevant and kills you.
LORD OF THE ZOMBIES: its a mix of aggro and control material, being able to rush or get stable to finish later.
Strong Point: Versatility, this deck really deals with alot of things, no key cards. Alot of targets to be retrieved by LotU or Grotto.
Weak Point: pretty slow, this deck can't keep up vs decks faster than this.
ZOMBIE MADNESS: many cards of this deck are not listed because its more fun than competitive deck, but its really nice to discard for Infestation and pay the madness for effects. I don't know, guess it's a deck with potencial to evolve.
Strong Points: Swarm high cards at a cheap cost
Weak Point: runs subpar cards to get the benefit of madness.
GRIXIS ZOMBIES: a very aggro/control deck that abuse damage spells while doing other things (discarding, countering, killing). The sweetest thing is the abuse of unearth which makes mass removal/creature damage trade, a minor concern vs this deck.
Strong Points: very high damaging deck, and it increases with the add of Lightning Bolt instead of Terminate.
Weak Point: get it's power lowered alot by grave hate.
ZOMBIES’ COVENANT: is a control deck, packed with mass removal, ramp, and unearth zombies, focused to hold the ground ‘til the deck is able to cast Necromancer’s Convenant, and fill the board with a horde of 2/2 lifelinker Zombies ftw.
Strong Points: works with a combo deck feeling, since once reaching covenant’s cost, graves are supposed to be filled. Also this deck can hold into the creature by themselves without covenant’s trick, which is good.
Weak Point: slow, and blank out when too many critters are exiled.
Phew, long writing, took alot of my effort, even so i guess i must be missing something, zombies is a tribe with alot of material to work with. Anyway, hope you have enjoyed this primer, and that it helps you keep your hunger for BRAINS!, i mean, to help you to build your desired Zombie deck.
Ow, and i forgot, every Zombie player, when an opponent wants to shakes his hand, he gives a dead stare and say: "BBRRAAAIIINNNSSS".
You know, back in the day, I used to play a lot of Tribal. My deck of choice was a Mono-Green Insect deck that was so polished, I nearly took it to an Extended tournament, as it had 50/50 or better matchups with two out of the three big decks at the time. In my spare time, I would play the deck in casual Tribal. You know the only deck that would give me fits every time I played them?
Zombies.
No joke. No matter who was playing it, or if they had a different build, Zombies would kick sand in my face, swat my ice cream cone to the ground, and run off with my girl. It was espically the Zombie Control decks that were completely unfair.
And now, after that story, is the point I am trying to get to: these Zombie control decks had two cards in common. One was Noxious Ghoul, which I see you have, and Corpse Harvester, which you don't. It my just be personal bias, but I have seen nothing but sick things happen from this guy. Sure, he may cost 5 mana, but...
1.) He can search out any Zombie you need.
2.) He gives you a Swamp while doing so.
3.) If he sacrifices a creature in a Zombie deck, it was probably a Zombie.
4.) Some Zombies like being sacrificed.
5.) For those that don't, Lord of the Undead and Unholy Grotto.
6.) 3/3. Take that, Infest.
I might be pushing it on that last one, but, seriously, the guy is a tutor AND a land-thinner that can help you reuse your Zombie abilities. On a 3/3.
I really think the guy should have a mention.
Also, you mention Wretched Anurid, but not Blind Creeper. Personally, I always prefered the Creeper, but that might be me. I don't really have a block of text to support this one, other than saying that I like it more.
All in all, cool primer. See if this can get stickied.
Personally I like Creeper better than Anurid. He's going to be a 3/3 in most relevant situations anyway, and losing 4-6 life isn't fun when you're playing Graveborn Muse/Carnophage/Shepherd of Rot.
Also, you didn't mention Gloomdrifter, a personal favorite of mine. Infest and flying on a single card.
Blind Creeper: its a nice card. I've found 3 sui zombies list, but none with him over Anurid. Anyway, i also think its a cool card that worth a mention.
Corpse Harvester: well, i've didn't mentioned this guy 'cause never saw a deck running it. Also is doesn't seems reliable to me, BUT if you guys have any list running him in a reliable way, please post here, and if you let me, i'll add to the primer. I guess he might see game in a multiplayer enviroment.
Gloomdrifter: its a really low infest. Even if you can cast him on turn 2 (with dark ritual), he won't have reached the threshold. Since infest is usually used to stop fast massive creatures cast, his ability is kind of slow for its purpose.
Tombstone Stairwell + Vengeful Dead: indeed there is this high cmc "combo" that most times only pings 2x, cause you won't be able to pay the upkeep further than that. I was aware of the existence of this "combo", but since i couldn't dig a list that uses this, i set it apart.
Kaervek's Spite: nice card, indeed it should be used as 1-2 of on Rot decks as a final blow.
Let ideas keep comin'.
Any suggestion for new deck lists? Or fixes on present ones?
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"Now i lay you, down to rest, you'll never be more than second best" (Megadeth)
Thanks for the credit LOL. But honestly, I would love to see a zombie deck under a competitive and the only way i see it is under aggro control.
Right now, im actually getting read for a Legacy tournament but i wont be running zombie (might be running Vanila Ice Cream.dec under the Developing Legacy Forum)
I know you're a zombie fan Halted Asylum (i borrowed your zombie-bridge idea) and I would love to hear more ideas for that Trailblazer-Denial deck. So far, i think im only thinking of cheap zombie beaters and discard cards. Im pretty sure there could be more than that.
EDIT: Barrow Ghoul looks like a reasonable zombie beater... but a dedicated zombie deck needs to be built around him.
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Thanks for spiderboy4 of High~Light_Studios for the kick ass avatar.
Thanks for DarkNightCavalier of HotPS for the exceptional signature.
I am convinced that WotC is "dumbing" the game because of all the stupid posts they come across on MTG-related forums
The more I think about it, that Zombie Trailblazer mana-denail thing sounds really cool. I do have a few ideas for it, but I'm having trouble picking a way to go. Aggro or Control? Personally, I like control, but I always have. That, and because Helldozer would fit really well. He can off nonbasic lands, untap, and then be tapped if you run out of mana to deny another land.
How many times have I seen this info get variously posted in literally dozens of Zombie-Tribal-Help-Me! threads over the years only to get buried in the aether of thread-rotation, never to be seen again..
Nice to see _all_ of it in one place, finally, Halted.
I'll post my build this weekend. I think it's purty good.
(It might be worth pointing out in Lords section that Zombies have the most 'Lords' of any tribe at this point..) (right?)
As you can tell, I used Suicidal Zombies as a basis. The idea would to accel into some LD in the first few turns, and then use Zombie Trailblazer to turn every zombie you control into mana denial once you start dropping creatures. Purely untested.
Guess there are cards that are not under discussion, because they seems to be staples: Trailblazer, Dark Ritual, Sinkhol and Chocking Sands, heavy mana denial.
By best play i consider: swamp, dark ritual, trailblazer. or Ritual, Chocking Sands. Isn't?
I've chosen Festering Goblin because his removal skill, there are alot of threats with 1 thoughness that just don't attack. (just on elves we can mention 10+)
Carrion Fedder, is the natural beater of this kind of deck, if the foe manage to deal with your creature in some manner, this one gets the benefit, even if tapped.
Entrails Feaster, (meta choice) almost to shut down Ichorid, and is great on mirror, but is subpar vs combos.
Gempalm Polluter, with so many 1 drops, even 3 at once with ritual, this become the wincon of the deck, hitting hard, even if you keep locking opponents up.
Terror: opponent will, ever that he drops a land, always have at least one mana of desired color at his disposal, so fast decks will be able to go through, then Terror do his job.
Night's Whisper: card advantage to dig and keep on strategy.
On the OP: please use spoiler tags; that's hell of a wall of text.
Gangrenous Zombies or any other cheap massremoval in place of Terror, as I understand you it's there to take care of cheap critters that get played through your mana denial, so Infest-like removal really should be able to deal with Elves,m just add some Unholy Grotto so you don't screw yourself.
Against black decks, just go beat down, I mean you can give your creatures swampwalk too with the Trailblazer - it's not that dead.
Against Vial and Affinity there's allways specific artifact hate,but that'd be something to put in a sideboard - Affinity is post-side an easy matchup most of the time because the hate is that stupid.
Edit: Thought of adding, 'explain more how the archetype works' to comments on the OP but really, one can't explain zombies the way it's presented here in a general way - the decks are just to different. -> Great primer.
on stickying: I PMed Memnarch and sent him the finished version for editing/correcting purposes before putting it up.
PS a Banner allways looks good
I was testing your tips, and indeed it was more a piloting managent than a card one.
Oh Lord, Infest and Gangrenous Zombie are just too sweet on winnie MU, i've found myself with 5 creatures (2 feeder, 2 feaster, trailblazer) on board vs 5 creatures on foe's side (savanna lion, isamaru..), then came up Infest....everything died, except a 6/6 feeder, saccing everything else to him...2 swings by that time, no removal from his hand, and gg. I don't know if i MD those cards on Terror place, or just let on SB to this specific MU, since mana denial screws many other ones. What you think?
Vs black decks, i've faced 3-4 Tendrils deck, a Discard Rack Specter deck, and a ZOMBIE BRIDGE deck (the guy mentioned that he got the list on this thread...ok, i'll confess that i got proudy..;) ) in no games i was able to make the lock work, despite the 8 land destruction cards, they got their mana working pretty easily (i've drawn 1-3 LD dedicated spells). Also i figured out that the beating of this deck is not so great, maybe it should have a Lord on SB (thought about Bad Moon, but that'd improve their creatures too, specially on Discard, since Zombie Bridge is not that common around.). I've lost all games, just won a couple rounds vs discard / bridge.
Affinity...i have didn't included any Artifact hate (which one on mono-b?), but tried it out. Then, after 2 game loses, i've borded in Infest, over Choking Sands. Then i realized that Infest + Terror = gg. 2x i've Infested Board, and like on winnies, huge Feeder, he sacced every other dying creature, to a smaller but huge Ravager, swang with mu Feeder and hit, he swang with his ravager, sacced some other artifacts, including lands, and took Terror...gg.
Mana Denial is realllly cool vs Affinity. Shutting up Academy Ruins and Glimmervoid really rocks, also Wasteland becomes pretty effective on disrupting Artifact Lands, so Affinity artifact counts.
Nice catch on our behavior piloting this deck. I guess all-in-all, its fun and get really better, specially if we manage to get an effective SB.
Blutsau: thanks for the tips on editing the primer. Don't know much about doing it, so i'm certain that there is of alot of flaws, specially on how to put it up to provide a likely reading (you know, first timer).
It's indeed a wall of text!, nice idea on spoiler tagging (never used, it'll be my first time also..:))
Thought about explaining each deck behavior, showing how to pilot it, also describing some MUs (tribal and non-tribal), trying to provide alternatives to deal with some enviroment threats, but dropped the idea. (even wrote the text, but as you said, i've looked to the Text Wall and thought that it was big enough to joyful reading).
Thanks for PM Menmarch about sticking it (correcting and editing will also help, since i know its not well written, even after i revised it). There was alot of hours involved on writing and reviewing it, and i think that its a tribe that many people has a crush on, so i guess it's a relevant material for further research on building a zombie deck.
Thanks for the compliments, i've tried my best to share with everybody here some aspects of this interesting tribe, from everything i've had a chance to learn about all different zombie decks strategies and how to pilot each one.
LOL...indeed a Banner would be AWSOME. I'm trying to improve my Photoshop skills, but still i'm not able to merge properly the pictures. But i'll try!
Another Support card to mention for Zombies is Patriarch's Bidding. Bidding decks have an explosive edge especially when played casually. The one I run in my signature works pretty well, winning as early second/third turn. This type of deck is typically less effective against other mono-black zombie builds, but this version utilizes Vengeful Dead for the win, preferring mass-sacrifice for the win and beatdown second. Vengeful Dead has also helps in the occasional mirror match and is quickly becoming a favorite as I play this deck more and more.
Maybe I missed them in the list, but Lim-Dul's Cohort is another zombie creature not mentioned. Not that great, but he exists nonetheless.
It's gone through some major revisions too. I had Lim-Dul the Necromancer in it, but he didn't work too well with the Call to the Grave. The Unliving Psychopaths are handy but not super great in this deck but are good rattlesnakes if there aren't any Call to the Graves out. I also had Stromgald Crusader in it but decided that his flying wasn't enough against dedicated fliers, hence the Vultures.
Basically it's point is to keep the board as clear as possible and then swarm with super-strong, and in the case of the Vulturous Zombie, flying zombies.
The main draw back is that it's slow and there aren't any Terror or other control or counter spells in it (Dash Hopes?), and no good utility 1-drops.
The Animate Deads will probably come out though, they're only good really if there are Mulldrifters in Graveyards or something with haste.
Do you have any suggestions for me? Are all of the pumpers too much?
Dunbledork: Patriarch's Bidding is an inferior card compared to Balthor, albeit we can find many builds running it, i guess i'll add to the Primer, just because it so popular.
About Lin-Duls Cohort i won't add, in fact, there are more than 200 zombies, i just added those who see play at the moment, or those whose have potencial to be explored. I'm not adding all zombies here, if was that so, it won't be a primer, a guide to Zombie builds, but just a gatherer listing all zombies avaluable.
to the recent posters::gonk: gosh.....seemed that my primer didn't help people improving their buildings after all. I know its a long text, but anyone took a time to read it? Looking at viables strategies? Paying attencion on which cards fits the theme at an effective rate?...:gonk:.
About Trailblazer build, i guess the last list i've posted is the best one i can build, it has a winning rate of some kind of 40-50% of the games.
Now, i'm pushing Unearth Zombies, and i guess the R/B list seems the most stable so far. I'd do some further tests and post'em here. If any of you has any tested suggestion/deck for Unearth Zombies, feel free to post here.
Thanks for all feedback so far.
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"Now i lay you, down to rest, you'll never be more than second best" (Megadeth)
...Infest and Gangrenous Zombie are just too sweet on winnie MU, i've found myself with 5 creatures (2 feeder, 2 feaster, trailblazer) on board vs 5 creatures on foe's side (savanna lion, isamaru..), then came up Infest....everything died Note: as you can play control in such matchups it's not nessecary to make Infest a 5:5 (even) trade.
Keep in hand what you don't need to play out, so have the upper hand after the boardsweeping. You won't allways have a Feeder that survives. n the other hand, you can trick them into overextending by playing out many critters - this is a good idea when you have recursion (Zombies don't lack that) in a pat/bad situation or are in a superior position with more cards in hand.
(sry if this aimed at a level of skill lower than yours but I've seen the 'mistake' to often), except a 6/6 feeder, saccing everything else to him...2 swings by that time, no removal from his hand, and gg. I don't know if i MD those cards on Terror place, or just let on SB to this specific MU, since mana denial screws many other ones. What you think?
As your MD lacks recursion I'd opt for Terror, if you would add some Unholy Grotto and make the Swamps Snowcovered I'd opt for GZs MD.
Vs black decks, i've faced 3-4 Tendrils deck, a Discard Rack Specter deck, and a ZOMBIE BRIDGE deck (the guy mentioned that he got the list on this thread...ok, i'll confess that i got proudy..;) ) in no games i was able to make the lock work, despite the 8 land destruction cards, they got their mana working pretty easily (i've drawn 1-3 LD dedicated spells). Also i figured out that the beating of this deck is not so great, maybe it should have a Lord on SB (thought about Bad Moon, but that'd improve their creatures too, specially on Discard, since Zombie Bridge is not that common around.). I've lost all games, just won a couple rounds vs discard / bridge.
The lock can not work, as I said go for their throat instead. I wonder how agro you played - a control deck should get fits when facing 8 LD spells + 4 Wasteland. Ah, see the problem: play Blight or Rancid Earth over CS... when you have a lock that's weak 'gainst swamps don't need to run LD that can't hit swamps ...
Tendrils deck as in Tendrils of Agony (combo) or as in Tendrils of Corruption (MBC)? Both are hit by proreactive hand disruption - you wisely added Duress to your SB.
I'd play Lord of the Undead" target="blank">Lord of the Undead over the new one in your SB as he adds recursion...
Affinity...i have didn't included any Artifact hate (which one on mono-b?) (Emissary of Despair, Shattered Dreams, Trinisphere, Damping Matrix, Powder Keg, Engineered Explosives among others... not Zombie tribal but hate rarely is in-tribal) , but tried it out. Then, after 2 game loses, i've borded in Infest, over Choking Sands. Then i realized that Infest + Terror = gg. 2x i've Infested Board, and like on winnies, huge Feeder, he sacced every other dying creature, to a smaller but huge Ravager, swang with mu Feeder and hit, he swang with his ravager, sacced some other artifacts, including lands, and took Terror...gg. Re-read Terror... -.-
...
Thought about explaining each deck behavior, showing how to pilot it, also describing some MUs (tribal and non-tribal), trying to provide alternatives to deal with some enviroment threats, but dropped the idea. (even wrote the text, but as you said, i've looked to the Text Wall and thought that it was big enough to joyful reading) you still can expand the OP, a primer is ment to grow and change over the time.
Thanks for PM Menmarch about sticking it (I didn't do that for your thread, that's what I've done for mine two...) (correcting and editing will also help, since i know its not well written, even after i revised it). There was alot of hours involved on writing and reviewing it, and i think that its a tribe that many people have a crush on, so i guess it's a relevant material for further research on building a zombie deck.
...
LOL...indeed a Banner would be AWSOME. I'm trying to improve my Photoshop skills, but still i'm not able to merge properly the pictures. But i'll try! or just go to the avatar and sig shop section of the forum and ask a studio to do one for you.... *cough*Highlight Studios*cough*
@bravemonkey: I would not care 'bout fliers, with all your lords you can just race them, I would cut the Vulturous Zombie as well as Lili and Psycho along Animate Dead and fill those slots with some of the 1 or 2cc creatures Asylum's listed in the primer, maybe dedicate three slots to something that draws cards - should be enough considering that you run 4 LotU.
Hmm. I am curious as to why Balthor is superior to Bidding? I do not doubt your reasoning, its just I am mostly a casual player so don't often get into the intricacies of serious tourney/competitive play.
Balthor the Defiled vs. [CARD]Patriarch's Bidding
[/CARD]
It seems to me that, when all costs are paid, Balthor is less effective than Bidding at returning mass zombies to play (that is after all our theme here). Balthor's effects = total 7CMC while Bidding only costs 5CMC. Both are equally likely to be counterspelled or discarded from your hand (Duress etc.) so you must ignore those effects, but in a 2/2 body, Balthor is further marginalized because he is suceptible to CREATURE removal. Also, Bidding targets a particular creature type, so unless you are playing against another tribal (and this shouldn't be a problem with Withered Wretch anyway), you will get back all of your creatures while they wont get any of theirs. Balthor however could ignores type, perhaps bringing all your opponents red and/or black creatures to play. Even with 2 Undead Warchief in play, his total CMC with ability is equal to 5, however, at that point wouldn't you rather be casting a Bidding instead of Warchief? Hmm... I am just curious as to why Balthor is a better zombie/zombie-support than Bidding. Don't get me wrong, he makes an appearance in my zombie builds often, but mostly as a one or two-of.
1) I never overextend when packed up with mass removal, i was just telling a game that can illustrate a possible gameplay where mass removal took its biggest potencial (cleaning the board, and leaving me with a big beater).
2) Yeah, i'm always between Terror and Smother. But Terror deals with more threats.
3) I get all aggro possible for the deck. Without a Lord, this deck don't really gets the aggro position.
I love Lord of the Undead, but in this particular case, i think Death Baron is kind of superior, cause his is sided for aggro purposes (exactly to deal when the power lacked)
4) In fact, i realized Infest / Gangrenous Zombies can do the job, specially the former, since Affinity is pretty fast.
Sry, in fact, it was Smother...but i'm thinking on Terror all time (Terror is MD, Smother was a random inclusion).
5) Nice, i'll then, guess i'll make a tribal book to share on net. (there is alot of material, that i wrote while deckbuilding)
6) Oh, ok, i'll PM him in that case, but thx for the tip anyway.
7) LOL...thx for the tip again. I'll ask them for help the.
@ Dumbledork: 2 poinst:
1) Forces you to need 5 mana at disposal, that seems not so much just one more mana, but many times takes 4-5 turns to get this extra mana.
2) Vs tribal decks is a back drop, since the'll retrieve all their pieces as well (so goblins, elves, merfolks...all of them will also benefit from your cast)
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"Now i lay you, down to rest, you'll never be more than second best" (Megadeth)
Works OK for me in most games and every once in a while, it just owns. Built for duels or multiplayer. Definitely not optimal or anything, but solid at least.
Just realized this list hasn't been updated since 2007.
For some reason most of the decks aren't working for me to see ): I am really interested in looking at the "Lord of the Zombies" deck. Can someone post it or PM it to me please. Thanks a lot!
@NoirLamia: Beside the deck name there is a link written "show", click on it, and the list will appear.
@Morphiling:
I guess your deck is a little slow. Looking at it, i realized that your deck really start get going turn 3 (or you'll have to mulligan 'til you draw a Dark Ritual, even so...)
Dark Ritual is an unlikely card here, with only two possible targets, use it to cast LotU or Putrid Raptor. The former won't impact the board, since you won't cast a turn 2 card anway, so don't deserve spending 2 cards for it. The latter will cost you 4 cards (mana, ritual, discard and the card itself) and a single bounce or removal will ruin your day letting you with no further answers for a long time, but i'll agree that this one worth the risk, since a 4/4 first turn is always nice (but i'd prefer it on aggro decks, since i can keep the pressure turn 2 dropping other threats)
You won't use it with Bidding since when you get 3 mana it's unlikely to have creatures buried on your grave, since you'll start to be casting your critters. (and there is no discard outlet to fill your grave)
Gempalm Polluter: since your deck is really slow, polluter after turn 5-6 will be cycled for 1-2 lifeloss (you'll have 1-2 creatures out)...very suboptimal usage, don't you agree? You can see an optimal usage on Suicidal Zombies: (ritual , 3 Carnophage and/or Sarcomancy), next turn hit 6 cycle +3, and cantrip = 9 damage turn 2. Polluter loves alot of zombies out, so 1cmc creatures just have a partnership with it. I guess a Viscera Dragger would fit better here, since it can be cycled turn 2 and offer a threat to opponent's life through unearth.
Vengeful Dead: not likely fit here. As you noticed the deck is slow, and will take alot of time to a significant lifeloss given when creatures just start getting out by turn 3, and all at high cmc, so hardly you'll see a double drop. Also his beating is kind of lame for its cost, compared to cards alot more faster like Rotting Giant. He must work better on a swarming deck with an sac outlet.
Also i noticed there is no removal to deal with early threats (perfect deck to Goblin Lackey to face, slow and with no answers), or hand control, that without it, some cards could stop the deck by anytime (as Ghostly Prison, Magus of the Moat...).
I guess the deck is still a little unfocused, you have aggro options with no support (raptor and no way to take out creatures from its way to keep the beating, or giving it evasion); reanimation, but as a random usage, not pushing the theme (discard outlets or ways to fill your grave); pinging with Vengeful without trying to explore it, just a random usage as well. You're not on control position, just because there are no control card on it. No fast removal (a 4th turn damnation might not be fast enough, specially with only 2 of it, and only 22 lands, so no reliable 1 land drop per turn), or even a hand control to stop opponent to pushing his strategy.
I guess you should choose a path: aggro (drop down your creatures cmc; or pack up some early removal like Terror or Infest, to hold'on 'til your have enough mana to cast your beefs, or a way to ramp your mana), Control (go with removal, hand control, retrieve cards from grave...), Combo (try to abuse Vengeful Dead, try to mass produce zombies -tokens or not- and put in some sac outlet to force the direct damage, maybe you can use the Zombies of Rot idea), Reanimation (pack up discard outlets and cards that fill your grave to reanimate all of them).
Hope this comment helps improve your deck in any form.
"aah, there is no use go run and hide
you can't escape this sea of sunken eyes"
Phantom Planet - Living Dead
THE BRAIN EATERS
This is a thread focused to dissect every reliable way to needlework zombie cards, analyzing card per card 'til the last blood drop from their corpse.
Zombies are undead creatures living to feed their hunger for flesh meet (specially brains). They differ from other undead beings on speed (generally slower) and intelligence (they’re generally mindless, with a few exceptions). The lack of intelligence has a positive factor, they face no moral debate, have no ego to feed, nourish no survival instinct.
Zombies are usually portrayed as graveyard dwellers, so despite not been fully the truth, this reflects on game mechanics, since it's where relies their major ability, mess with graveyard, and this ability, added to the ability to generate tokens from a low cost, are the best feature of this tribe.
As general approach, power/toughness of zombies are not favorable, except for suicidal cards, where must pay a tax (life) to play with pumped critters. That said, and like aforementioned, aggroing is not the best feature of this tribe, but taking advantage of their ability to rise from their grave, and to multiply very easily (tokens)
The biggest threat this tribe can face is grave hate: Relic of Progenitus, Tormod’s Crypt, Leyline of the Void, Extirpate, these cards can shut us down badly in most builds, and these are the cards that Zombies should fear if they had any trace of feelings or smartness, so we, as their wise masters, must have for them. For countermeasures, targeted discard is the best shot on mono-black.
So protect against hate, and due the diversity of zombie abilities, this is a tribe that can generate tons of different and fun decks, relying on almost all strategies Magic can provide (discard, combo, agro, control, agro/control, ramp, reanimation…) leading to a vast number of archetypes.
But before exploring the archetypes mentioned, let’s gain knowledge of zombie cards and their function, so it makes easier to create your own building. Cards will be divided by: Lands, Beaters, Discard Outlets, Sacrifice Outlets, Cyclers, Grave Dealers, Removal Creatures, Life Reducers, Hand Control, Lords, Other Creatures and Support cards. BBRRAAIINNNSS!
LANDS: here will be described all common lands used to help zombies to achieve their diverse goals.
Unholy Grotto: the main Zombie land, plays around the central ability of the tribe, retrieving creatures back to player hand.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: has a special use to fix mana, and to give swampwalk to all zombies once packed up with Zombie Master.
Wasteland: mana denial. Since most zombie decks are mono color, it can screw any dual/tri-color decks, without compromising the deck’s mana base. Another common usage is to kill manlands.
Mutavault: Manland .favors agro, and can be used to work with other tribal cards. Can also help to keep the steam of the deck after a mass removal.
Polluted Mire/Barren Moor: cycle land, gives deck thinning and card advantage.
Crumbling Necropolis: Mana Fix on U/R/B, a slow one compared to fetchs, and also comes into play tapped, but it's really nice for guys on budget and for non-explosive decks.
Grixis Panorama: Land fetch, the nice point is, it don't come down tapped, and the downside of it is that it doesn't fix right away, needing tap one other land and itself to fetch what you need. Again, a land that is better than Terramorphic Expanse to fix your mana, as long it doesn't slow you down.
Ancient Ziggurat: Mana Fix, nice for Tribal decks that differs from mono color.
Bloodstained Mire: Land Fetch, used to make your deck thinner, raising the chance to finds basic dual lands to fix mana colors.
Carnophage: raw power, 2/2 for 1cmc, this is a card meant to attack 'til his death. It's runned like 1 drops of WW decks, going full power all the way. His backdrop usually is overlaped by its inflicted damage. Most used on Suicidal decks.
Sarcomancy: despite not a zombie on itself for Tribal purposes, it's overused like his zombie counterpart, Carnophage. Raw parts of 2/2 for 1 cmc, with a small backdrop, most used on suicidal decks.
Diergraf Ghoul: raw power, 2/2 for 1cmc, with a non-meaningful drawback, coming into play tapped.
Dreadwing: Flying and beating for 4 in a 1 cmc creature, really nice. Since most Zombie decks are mono-b, it's not used, but some multicolored builds runs him as a real threat.
Grixis Grimblade: awsome beater on multicolored builds, since in that kind of deck this is most times 3/2 deathtouch beater for 2cmc. But just stick with it if you assure that you'll drop multicolored permanents often.
Zombie Outlander: 2cmc 2/2 protection from green. No good when not facing green, but vs it, it really shine getting evasion and becoming a huge wall. SB material mostly.
Dauthi Ghoul: 1/1 for 2cmc, not big deal, but evasion is his power, usually backed up for a bunch of Lords, making him a killing machine. Aggro version just love him.
Blind Creeper: 3/3 beater for 2 cmc, but many times turns into a 2/2 or 1/1 which is kind of bad for aggro power. Anyway, it's a nice choice for aggro beating.
Dregscape Zombie: 2/1 for 2 cmc. reasonable beating, but he shines since he beats until he dies, then come for one last beating just for B. Cool aggro material.
Skaab Ruinator: 3cmc 5/6. It’s off main color, and have a big issue on sacrificing 3 critters to come into play (usually played on token decks). It has evasion (flying) and can be cast from grave, which makes him a permanent threat.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born: 5cmc 5/5, comes into play tapped, and needs to sac a creature to untap, but gets +1/+1 pump on the process. Has a sort of Anihilator ability, where it kill an opponent’s creature when attacking. Nice critter on UB if played with a proper support.
Rotting Giant: 3/3 for 2 cmc. His beating power is insane for black matters, and his backdrop is really easy to deal with. Aggro material.
Sangrophage: Carnophage big brother. as Rotting Giant 3/3 for 2 cmc, and as his brother, he pings your life to keep beating, but as mentioned before, his backdrop is overlaped by his raw power. Mostly used on Sui decks.
Stromgald Crusader: 2/1 for 2cmc, plus Protection from White, Evasion (flying) and pumpable. Great card for aggro decks, a monster on itself, dodges Swords to Plowshares, Vindicate, Path to Exile, and has a special role vs white decks.
Stillmoon Cavalier: Awsome beater, 3 mana, 2/2, pro black and white, can evade, pump and gain first strike, if it could come earlier than lords, it'd be even better.
Shambling Remains: 4/3 with unearth build in for 3 cmc, sign me in. Staple on Unearth Zombies, and should on everydeck splashing red that wants to aggro.
Wretched Anurid: another 3/3 for 2 cmc that pings your life. All qualities mentioned on Sangrophage works here. Sui material.
Putrid Leech: His backdrop is the need of green, but it’s a consistent 4/4 beater for 2 cmc and some ping in your life (2 life loss per activation). Sui material, but awesome beater you splash green (very unusual color for Zombie deck though)
Putrid Raptor: 4/4 for 3+discard, really huge aggro material, and can fit any deck with the intent to beat ASAP.
Soullless One: his power is equal to all zombies on grave or in play. You can imagine how big this guy gets on a zombie deck. Despite his power, the lack of evasion or trample really makes him a non-auto inclusion.
Twisted Abomination: Versatil creatures, nice Beating power, together with his regeneration, and cycling if showed on open hand, providing card advantage. It makes this threatful creature to play with in the most diverse scenarios.
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade: mono-b loves him as a beater, specially the ones full of swamps, swampcyclers and playing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to fix mana base. It's slow, but gets really big on dedicated decks, and the regeneration makes it even more useful on mid-late beating. Advice: Dark Ritual is not good with this card, Heir needs swamps to show it’s power.
Infectious Horror: mostly a multiplayer card. It's a 4cmc card 2/2, but on every attack it deals 2 damage to every opponent. Trick card, but only shines on Multiplayer games.
Putrid Imp: i guess all you guys know this putrid zombie. He is just the fastest discard outlet on magic, letting you discard all your hand with just: mana, imp, discard everything else. After some discards he also gets useful on beating since he has evasion (flying) and gets pumped.
Skirk Ridge Exhumer: some people like him as a discard outlet. Its not that great on discard compared to some other zombies because: depends on mana, and let you discard just one card at once, since tapping is involved. But at every activation, you get a Festering Goblin into play, with helps to improve removal in a proper deck.
Rotting Rats: not that strong as a discard outlet because will only provide 1 discard per cip (comes into play), but the replayability of this card is something to be explored.
Zombie Infestation: another very good discard outlet. On discarding decks, putting 2/2 into play to beat or chomp block while you keep your strategy rolling is something really cool. Almost an auto-include for discard based decks.
Carrion Feeder: the fastest permanent sacrifice outlet known on magic, and besides that, every creature that he sacs, pumps him permanently, so he gets bigger as other creatures from your side get dying (you can activate him every time a creature on your side is about to die). It becomes a beater late game sometimes.
Nantuko Husk: another card that can be used to sac other creatures, but his pump is just 'til EOT, although it’s a +2/+2 pump, so he can easily become a finisher in certain decks.
Phyrexian Ghoul: strickly a Husk twin brother.
Viscera Dragger: helps on filtering, also can be used from grave at cheaper cost.
Twisted Abomination: swampcycling, mana ramp, helps on improving your mana base to cast big stuff, also a nice beater, as above mentioned.
Gempalm Polluter: "burn" card. Not just replace itself giving you a card, as it reduces your opponent life equal to the number of zombies into play...one of the best zombies around but just for cycling.
Jhessian Zombies: fetch islands and swamps, key card when you're playing with a U splash and need to fecth a land and have a later beater.
Entrails Feaster: good beating card vs aggro decks. Every creature killed by you becomes fodder to increase the beating of this card. Also it screws up foe's strategy relying onto reviving creatures from grave. REALLLY fast and threatful.
Zombie Cannibal: no evasion and small beating, but its a fast card (1cmc) and can screw any strategy involving grave, such as dredge or bridge buildings, or even removing creatures as Ichorid.
Withered Wretch: solid creature, completely focused on screwing grave decks. His advantage is being able to remove multiples in a 2/2 body for 2 cmc.
Yixlid Jailer: comes into play and stops dredge, bridge, ichorid, haakon or anything that works while on grave from working. Underused, it can really wreck up many decks.
Lord of the Undead: also a Lord, so +1/+1 to every zombie. This card is the spirit of zombies, almost saying "RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE". Retrieve anything related to zombies, or removals like Nameless Inversion. I guess one of the most useful lord.
Balthor the Defiled: this card has a full deck designed for him. He is a fast manner to brings back all your zombies from your grave, if the deck is well designed can be game breaking.
Gravedigger: returns a zombie from your grave to your hand, not much used, except for specific decks like Korlash, since there are faster cards that have the same function.
Bone Dancer: steal opponent creatures that are on his graveyard, awsome if you find a way to make him pass through.
Coffin Queen: another creature stealer, at the same cmc that Bone Dancer.
Cemetery Reaper: not just clean opponent graveyard from creatures, but also provides creature advantage to it's controller, giving a 3/3 zombie token, everytime he activates.
Sedris, the Traitor King: this guy gives to all creatures in your grave UNEARH, it really shines when you can put beef one into it, then unearth them to beat. Not much explored 'til now, since it's cmc is kind of prohibitive.
Corpse Connoisseur: Buried Alive creature. Despite it's high cmc cost, it can provide a solid creature fetch and bury pattern, Kind of Korlash best friend.
Necromancer’s Covenant: clean up yours or opponent’s graveyard and fill up your board with an horde of lifelinker zombies. Steep mana cost, requires W and B, but if you manage to safetly reach it, it’s a game winner card.
Festering Goblin: a semi-Mogg Fanatic card. it can take down two 1/1 cards just chomping block one. With a proper sac outlet, you can manage its ability. Mostly a control material.
Plaguebearer: spot removal, 3 mana destroys a 2 cmc creature, each further 2 mana invested raises 1 cmc on destroyed creature. 2 cmc for 1/1. I've seen a bearer cast, followed by a goyf cast, then a goyf removal.
Fleshbag Marauder: Cruel Edicted creature, its nice since you can retrieve it with zombie grave dealers. Helps to deal with creatures mono-b can't target.
Gangrenous Zombies: mass removal. -1/-1 or -2/-2. Being a 3cmc and the tapping requirement slow it down, making it almost always replaced by Infest. It and also it forces you to run snow-covered swamps, but not really a concern.
Noxious Ghoul: one sided mass removal, a slow creature, but can really havoc in a proper deck. Each further zombie drop will put a -1/-1 on each non-zombie creatures.
Vengeful Pharaoh: unorthodox method to kill creatures, letting them to hit you. Nice creature for discard based decks, also it's solid when cast 5cmc, 5/4 deathtouch, this dude is born to kill.
Pyre Zombie: a guy that can do 2 damage to opponent directly, and be taken back to be recast...annoying card.
Anathemancer: if facing non-basic lands, can unleash alot of damage into your opponent's face, a must go R splash vs non-basic lands decks.
Rakdos Guildmage: he can put alot of 2/1 haste goblins into play to take down opponent without risking itself, a guy where you can sink your late game mana.
Balduvian Dead: this one creates 3/1 graveborn with haste, but there is a need of creature on grave to waste.
Nightscape Master: shines on U/R splash builds: Can unleash 2 damage to creatures directly at a cost of RR.
Deadpult: catapult of zombies. Sacrifice zombie to generate direct damage, cool but still unexplored card, seems to provide potential.
Maggot Carrier: -1 life for each player when cip. Is it any good? Some decks really takes advantage of this life loss, like Rot decks.
Shepherd of Rot: has a deck built around him, faster you get advantage on damage table, faster you win the game. Really explosive, deals damage to all players equal to the number of zombies into play.
Gempalm Polluter: not just provides card advantage, but also reduce your opponent's life in the same amount of zombies out, really threatful on fast zombie builds.
Organ Grinder: if you find a reliable way to fill out your grave, this guy can become a real threat.
Vengeful Dead: pings when zombies go to graveyard. Still not abused, since it's a late drop to really benefit make it's ability worth it. A booken strategy is still to be found.
Lich Lord of Unx: more zombies, more damage, that's his motto. Not just produce tokens but this 2nd turn drop zombie can provide really hard hits as long it stays, and as long more zombies come into play.
Grixis Slavedriver: slow, but if able, can provide 2 tokens while a 4/4 creature itself for 6cmc.
Tidehollow Sculler: Thoughtseize creature. Fast, nice body and remove specific threats from opponent hand, a must go on Panda Builds.
Grave Defiler: gives you CA, in a deck full of zombies, its not uncommon to draw you 2-3 cards on his cast.
Graveborn Muse: yeah, you all know her, it just refill your hand in no time for 1 life loss per card. Awsome creature, but needs some sort of sac outlet, or it can kill you. Control Material.
Skirk Ridge Exhumer: Festering Goblin producer. In fact you change a card in your hand for a Festering into play, there a some decks that can abuse it, like Zombie Madness.
Zombie Infestation: another discard outlet that fills the board with 2/2 Zombie Tokens, can also be abused on decks that share a simpathy for cards on grave.
Rotlung Reanimator: nice creature, but i don't know any deck that runs it effectively 'til now. His beating is inferior to many other cards, but the creature advantage it gives might be used in some devour or deadpult deck.
Lich Lord of Unx: this new UB guy, can not just create 1/1 tokens for UB, but also hit severely on opponents life. If you splash U and want a token producer, you found your guy.
Cemetery Reaper: how about screw your opponent creatures on grave, and put a 2/2 token into play, nice? What if this guy pump all the tokens it produces with +1/+1, even better? what if these pump goes to all your rotted beings, awsome? Ok, this is it, the AWSOME Zombie Lord and Token Producer.
Grixis Slavedriver: slow, but if able, can provide 2 tokens while a 4/4 creature itself for 6cmc.
Necromancer’s Covenant: WB decks required. Can produce tons of zombies if determinate graveyard is properly filled. Wincon card.
Army of the Damned: Puts 13 (thirteen) 2/2 Zombies into play!!! And better, it has flashback. It has a steep cost 8cmc, and the flashback 10 cmc, but if you’re able to play it, odds are that you’ll win the game.
[card]Endless Ranks of the Dead[/cards]: 4cmc, multiples your zombies into play to 1.5, threatful and flavorful card, if not responded, can change tides into the player ‘s favor (if he manages to keep at least 2 zombies into play).
Moan of the Unhallowed: 4cmc, puts two 2/2 zombies into play, and has flashback for 7cmc, but a not impressive card compared to other faster or more impacting token producers.
Zombie Master: gives regeneration for all zombies and with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth gives evasion to all of them too. Versatile creature.
Death Baron: new stuff! pumps +1/+1 to all zombies, also give them deathtouch. Really great when your meta is big stuff. Not much used so far.
Undead Warchief: pumps +2/+1 each zombie and also makes all faster, many, many zombie decks runs him for the fastness and beating power that he provides.
Lord of the Undead: also a Grave Dealer. Pumps every zombies +1/+1, but its special skill is to keep bringing back wasted zombie to your hand. It provides a CA that helps alot late game steam either on combo or beating.
Cemetery Reaper: +1/+1 pump to all zombies, pack with grave hate and token producing. A really strong card, the best choice vs many MUs.
Nightscape Familiar: Multicolor Zombie Banneret, it's a key card on R/U builds.
Bridge from Below: just is runned on decks build around it, produces zombies as creatures get dead.
Rooftop Storm: blue card and 6cmc, but allows you to cast zombie spell for 0, yep, you can cast all zombie spells for free.
Midnight Ritual: works on decks with mana ramp. Fills the board with tons of creatures. Never saw a really working deck that runs it.
Undead Gladiator: nice beater, it costs 3 which is a little slower than other beaters, but its recursive. Guess some people should try him more.
Zombie Trailblazer: to give evasion to zombies its subpar compared to Zombie Master. But the user (Nameless One) suggested a mana denial deck based on him. Dark Ritual + Zombie Trailblazer would be really a lock down. We should build a deck around it. Any ideas and i complete this premier.
Lord of Tresserhorn: 10/4 that regenerates for 4 mana? Guess Grixis decks will run it.
Tombstone Stairwell: another card to build around it. Never saw a Zombie deck that runs it in an effective way, but heard about a combo with Vengeful Dead.
Dark Ritual: many mono-black decks have ritual to speed things up, and since zombies are mono-b (at least the majority of the lists), its a staple card.
Duress: since mono-b can't deal with Artfacts and Enchantments, taking these cards out of opponent hand before cast is essential. Thoughtseize and Distress are also played.
Night's Whisper: CA from black. Since most CA zombies are at a high cmc, fast zombie decks runs this card to fill its hand.
Sign in Blood: a better version of Whisper, since you can hit opponent for a final 2 damage.
Removal: Doom Blade, Smother, Snuff Out, Nameless Inversion, Infest, Damnation are all non-zombie cards that are run to kill.
AEther Vial: since counter decks slows you down alot, this card becomes vital, even more, because it allow you to double drop every turn.
These are the most used cards on Zombie builds, but there are alot of cards that just fits specific strategies.
There are tons of zombies archetypes, that is what makes this tribe so fun. Here i'll list some present archetypes and samples builds to help figure it out.
ZOMBIE BRIDGE: its a recent archetype, that came with Bridge from Below release. The idea is to create a huge pumped army pretty fast and win by beating.
04 Bloodstained Mire
04 Blood Crypt
10 Swamp
// CREATURES (20)
04 Putrid Imp
04 Carrion Feeder
04 Festering Goblin
04 Gempalm Polluter
04 Undead Warchief
04 Dark Ritual
04 Cabal Therapy
04 Zombie Infestation
04 Bridge from Below
04 Dread Return
02 Anger
Strong Point: fast deck, and since you run a lord, you can manage to keep into the game without Bridge.
Weak Point: Grave hate gives you alot of dead cards, and that's not cool. Run out of steam pretty fast.
ZOMBIES OF ROT: its a suicidal deck variant, this deck takes advantage of self-pinging to unleash direct life loss to win.
03 Unholy Grotto
01 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
04 Barren Moor
12 Swamp
// CREATURES (20)
04 Carnophage
04 Sarcomancy
04 Maggot Carrier
04 Shepherd of Rot
04 Gempalm Polluter
04 Dark Ritual
04 Duress
04 Night's Whisper
04 Terror
02 Kaervek's Spite
02 Consume Spirit
Strong Point: direct damage, pretty hard to opponent avoid it.
Weak Point: you life gets down in the same rate you take his, so you always win on the red zone. So if you can't keep in front on damage race, you just loose faster than you can do something about.
ZOMBIES DEFILED: reanimation deck that runs around Balthor the Defiled.
04 Barren Moor
02 Unholy Grotto
01 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
13 Swamp
04 Putrid Imp
04 Twisted Abomination
04 Noxious Ghoul
04 Undead Warchief
04 Balthor the Defiled
04 Duress
04 Exhume
04 Zombie Infestation
04 Buried Alive
04 Ghastly Demise
Strong Point: can bring alot of big stuff to the game very fast.
Weak Point: too much grave dependent, so grave hate is just a gg.
HEIR OF ZOMBIES: a.k.a Korlash Control. Its a deck that forces to beat with Korlash while ramping mana and controlling board.
01 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
03 Unholy Grotto
04 Barren Moor
14 Swamp
// CREATURES (24)
03 Carrion Feeder
04 Gravedigger
04 Twisted Abomination
04 Lord of the Undead
04 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
03 Zombie Trailblazer
02 Fleshbag Marauder
04 Duress
04 Nameless Inversion
03 Buried Alive
03 Corrupt
Strong Point: Many ways to accell your mana and keep casting big stuff, Korlash keep coming back to push your mana up.
Weak Point: slow deck with alot of dead draw, usually lands. Extirpate on Korlash is also bad.
SUICIDAL ZOMBIES: pure aggro deck with the backdrop of big creature mana wise, life loss.
04 Bloodstained Mire
04 Mutavault
03 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
10 Swamp
04 Carnophage
04 Sarcomancy
04 Wretched Anurid
04 Rotting Giant
04 Gempalm Polluter
03 Zombie Master
04 Dark Ritual
04 AEther Vial
04 Snuff Out
04 Sign in Blood
Strong Point: huge beating, closes game pretty fast
Weak Point: vs any deck with a high damage inflicting power, the backdrop of the cards become relevant and kills you.
LORD OF THE ZOMBIES: its a mix of aggro and control material, being able to rush or get stable to finish later.
02 Unholy Grotto
01 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
19 Swamp
// CREATURES (30)
04 Carrion Feeder
04 Festering Goblin
04 Stromgald Crusader
04 Lord of the Undead
04 Undead Warchief
03 Gempalm Polluter
03 Zombie Master
03 Grave Defiler
01 Fleshbag Marauder
04 Duress
04 Nameless Inversion
Strong Point: Versatility, this deck really deals with alot of things, no key cards. Alot of targets to be retrieved by LotU or Grotto.
Weak Point: pretty slow, this deck can't keep up vs decks faster than this.
ZOMBIE MADNESS: many cards of this deck are not listed because its more fun than competitive deck, but its really nice to discard for Infestation and pay the madness for effects. I don't know, guess it's a deck with potencial to evolve.
03 Unholy Grotto
02 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
15 Swamps
// CREATURES (20)
04 Putrid Imp
04 Carrion Feeder
04 Skirk Ridge Exhumer
04 Grave Scrabbler
04 Brain Gorgers
04 Dark Withering
04 Psychotic Episode
04 Call to the Netherworld
04 Dark Ritual
04 Zombie Infestation
Strong Points: Swarm high cards at a cheap cost
Weak Point: runs subpar cards to get the benefit of madness.
GRIXIS ZOMBIES: a very aggro/control deck that abuse damage spells while doing other things (discarding, countering, killing). The sweetest thing is the abuse of unearth which makes mass removal/creature damage trade, a minor concern vs this deck.
04 Crumbling Necropolis
04 Grixis Panorama
01 Island
04 Mountain
07 Swamp
01 Anathemancer
03 Dreadwing
04 Dregscape Zombie
04 Rotting Rats
04 Shambling Remains
04 Death Baron
04 Viscera Dragger
04 Countersquall
04 Terminate
04 Blightning
04 Grixis Charm
Strong Points: very high damaging deck, and it increases with the add of Lightning Bolt instead of Terminate.
Weak Point: get it's power lowered alot by grave hate.
ZOMBIES’ COVENANT: is a control deck, packed with mass removal, ramp, and unearth zombies, focused to hold the ground ‘til the deck is able to cast Necromancer’s Convenant, and fill the board with a horde of 2/2 lifelinker Zombies ftw.
04 Arcane Sanctum
04 Esper Panorama
06 Plains
10 Swamp
04 Dregscape Zombie
04 Tidehollow Sculler
04 Death Baron
04 Viscera Dragger
04 Grixis Slavedriver
04 Executioner's Capsule
04 Obelisk of Esper
04 Zealous Persecution
04 Necromancer's Covenant
Strong Points: works with a combo deck feeling, since once reaching covenant’s cost, graves are supposed to be filled. Also this deck can hold into the creature by themselves without covenant’s trick, which is good.
Weak Point: slow, and blank out when too many critters are exiled.
Phew, long writing, took alot of my effort, even so i guess i must be missing something, zombies is a tribe with alot of material to work with. Anyway, hope you have enjoyed this primer, and that it helps you keep your hunger for BRAINS!, i mean, to help you to build your desired Zombie deck.
Ow, and i forgot, every Zombie player, when an opponent wants to shakes his hand, he gives a dead stare and say: "BBRRAAAIIINNNSSS".
Zombies.
No joke. No matter who was playing it, or if they had a different build, Zombies would kick sand in my face, swat my ice cream cone to the ground, and run off with my girl. It was espically the Zombie Control decks that were completely unfair.
And now, after that story, is the point I am trying to get to: these Zombie control decks had two cards in common. One was Noxious Ghoul, which I see you have, and Corpse Harvester, which you don't. It my just be personal bias, but I have seen nothing but sick things happen from this guy. Sure, he may cost 5 mana, but...
1.) He can search out any Zombie you need.
2.) He gives you a Swamp while doing so.
3.) If he sacrifices a creature in a Zombie deck, it was probably a Zombie.
4.) Some Zombies like being sacrificed.
5.) For those that don't, Lord of the Undead and Unholy Grotto.
6.) 3/3. Take that, Infest.
I might be pushing it on that last one, but, seriously, the guy is a tutor AND a land-thinner that can help you reuse your Zombie abilities. On a 3/3.
I really think the guy should have a mention.
Also, you mention Wretched Anurid, but not Blind Creeper. Personally, I always prefered the Creeper, but that might be me. I don't really have a block of text to support this one, other than saying that I like it more.
All in all, cool primer. See if this can get stickied.
Also, you didn't mention Gloomdrifter, a personal favorite of mine. Infest and flying on a single card.
Blind Creeper: its a nice card. I've found 3 sui zombies list, but none with him over Anurid. Anyway, i also think its a cool card that worth a mention.
Corpse Harvester: well, i've didn't mentioned this guy 'cause never saw a deck running it. Also is doesn't seems reliable to me, BUT if you guys have any list running him in a reliable way, please post here, and if you let me, i'll add to the primer. I guess he might see game in a multiplayer enviroment.
Gloomdrifter: its a really low infest. Even if you can cast him on turn 2 (with dark ritual), he won't have reached the threshold. Since infest is usually used to stop fast massive creatures cast, his ability is kind of slow for its purpose.
Tombstone Stairwell + Vengeful Dead: indeed there is this high cmc "combo" that most times only pings 2x, cause you won't be able to pay the upkeep further than that. I was aware of the existence of this "combo", but since i couldn't dig a list that uses this, i set it apart.
Kaervek's Spite: nice card, indeed it should be used as 1-2 of on Rot decks as a final blow.
Let ideas keep comin'.
Any suggestion for new deck lists? Or fixes on present ones?
Thanks for the credit LOL. But honestly, I would love to see a zombie deck under a competitive and the only way i see it is under aggro control.
Right now, im actually getting read for a Legacy tournament but i wont be running zombie (might be running Vanila Ice Cream.dec under the Developing Legacy Forum)
I know you're a zombie fan Halted Asylum (i borrowed your zombie-bridge idea) and I would love to hear more ideas for that Trailblazer-Denial deck. So far, i think im only thinking of cheap zombie beaters and discard cards. Im pretty sure there could be more than that.
EDIT: Barrow Ghoul looks like a reasonable zombie beater... but a dedicated zombie deck needs to be built around him.
Thanks for spiderboy4 of High~Light_Studios for the kick ass avatar.
Thanks for DarkNightCavalier of HotPS for the exceptional signature.
I'm indeed a zombie fan, but in fact, its a very popular tribe, alongside Elves and Goblins.
I really believe on Zombie Trailblazer potencial, just making some tests, then i'll put a list list here.
I also think that it must be around cheap casts, and maybe LD.
If you get with something, please post here.
@Parabola01: how a thread get sticked?
PM a Casual Mod. Memnarch and Annorax
The more I think about it, that Zombie Trailblazer mana-denail thing sounds really cool. I do have a few ideas for it, but I'm having trouble picking a way to go. Aggro or Control? Personally, I like control, but I always have. That, and because Helldozer would fit really well. He can off nonbasic lands, untap, and then be tapped if you run out of mana to deny another land.
How many times have I seen this info get variously posted in literally dozens of Zombie-Tribal-Help-Me! threads over the years only to get buried in the aether of thread-rotation, never to be seen again..
Nice to see _all_ of it in one place, finally, Halted.
I'll post my build this weekend. I think it's purty good.
(It might be worth pointing out in Lords section that Zombies have the most 'Lords' of any tribe at this point..) (right?)
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Well, he's got Zombie Master, Death Baron, and Undead Warchief (Lord of the Undead should count as one, too).
Goblins has Caterwauling Boggart, Goblin King, Goblin Warchief, and Mad Auntie. And, then, for less traditional Lords, as in enchantments or non-static benefits, there's Dralnu's Crusade, Goblin Caves, Goblin General, Goblin Lookout, Goblin Pyromancer, and Goblin Shrine.
I rethought the Zombie Trailblazer idea, and I think Aggro is the way to go. Maybe something like:
14 Swamp
4 Wasteland
1 Unholy Grotto
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Ritual
4 Sinkhole
4 Choking Sands
4 Sarcomancy
4 Æther Vial
4 Zombie Trailblazer
4 Carnophage
4 Sangrophage
4 Wretched Anurid
4 Rotting Giant
As you can tell, I used Suicidal Zombies as a basis. The idea would to accel into some LD in the first few turns, and then use Zombie Trailblazer to turn every zombie you control into mana denial once you start dropping creatures. Purely untested.
I'm glad you liked it!
Be welcome to help us with new twists of present buildings, or better yet, with new stuff!!!
Indeed, Zombies is the only tribe with 4 LORDS, i'll mention that on the Primer.
nice to see buddies around!
@Parabola01:
I'm getting to almost the same list as you are, just some different cards on some spots.
My list is more controllish than aggro, since i'll be tapping creatures for trailblazers purpose, denying mana.:
04 Bloodstained Mire
04 Wasteland
10 Swamp
// CREATURES (20)
04 Carrion Feeder
04 Festering Goblin
04 Entrails Feaster
04 Gempalm Polluter
04 Zombie Trailblazer
04 Dark Ritual
04 Terror
04 Night's Whisper
04 Sinkhole
04 Chocking Sands
Guess there are cards that are not under discussion, because they seems to be staples: Trailblazer, Dark Ritual, Sinkhol and Chocking Sands, heavy mana denial.
By best play i consider: swamp, dark ritual, trailblazer. or Ritual, Chocking Sands. Isn't?
I've chosen Festering Goblin because his removal skill, there are alot of threats with 1 thoughness that just don't attack. (just on elves we can mention 10+)
Carrion Fedder, is the natural beater of this kind of deck, if the foe manage to deal with your creature in some manner, this one gets the benefit, even if tapped.
Entrails Feaster, (meta choice) almost to shut down Ichorid, and is great on mirror, but is subpar vs combos.
Gempalm Polluter, with so many 1 drops, even 3 at once with ritual, this become the wincon of the deck, hitting hard, even if you keep locking opponents up.
Terror: opponent will, ever that he drops a land, always have at least one mana of desired color at his disposal, so fast decks will be able to go through, then Terror do his job.
Night's Whisper: card advantage to dig and keep on strategy.
Deck concerns: Winnie decks (can play around 1 mana). Black decks. Artifacts decks. AEther Vial decks. Huge mana producing deck like elfball, that barely uses lands (llanowar elves, heritage druid, fyndhorn elves, elvish spirit guide....)
These are all MUs we can't do much. Against elves, at least we can take down mana producers with Festering.
But Aether Vial, Affinity, all black decks, we'll barely scratch them.
Still don't know what to do, and how to act on those MUs, because trailblazer just becomes a dead draw.
But its nice to see that there are more people trying to figure out. (me, you and nameless one)
Gangrenous Zombies or any other cheap massremoval in place of Terror, as I understand you it's there to take care of cheap critters that get played through your mana denial, so Infest-like removal really should be able to deal with Elves,m just add some Unholy Grotto so you don't screw yourself.
Against black decks, just go beat down, I mean you can give your creatures swampwalk too with the Trailblazer - it's not that dead.
Against Vial and Affinity there's allways specific artifact hate,but that'd be something to put in a sideboard - Affinity is post-side an easy matchup most of the time because the hate is that stupid.
Edit: Thought of adding, 'explain more how the archetype works' to comments on the OP but really, one can't explain zombies the way it's presented here in a general way - the decks are just to different. -> Great primer.
on stickying: I PMed Memnarch and sent him the finished version for editing/correcting purposes before putting it up.
PS a Banner allways looks good
I was testing your tips, and indeed it was more a piloting managent than a card one.
Oh Lord, Infest and Gangrenous Zombie are just too sweet on winnie MU, i've found myself with 5 creatures (2 feeder, 2 feaster, trailblazer) on board vs 5 creatures on foe's side (savanna lion, isamaru..), then came up Infest....everything died, except a 6/6 feeder, saccing everything else to him...2 swings by that time, no removal from his hand, and gg. I don't know if i MD those cards on Terror place, or just let on SB to this specific MU, since mana denial screws many other ones. What you think?
Vs black decks, i've faced 3-4 Tendrils deck, a Discard Rack Specter deck, and a ZOMBIE BRIDGE deck (the guy mentioned that he got the list on this thread...ok, i'll confess that i got proudy..;) ) in no games i was able to make the lock work, despite the 8 land destruction cards, they got their mana working pretty easily (i've drawn 1-3 LD dedicated spells). Also i figured out that the beating of this deck is not so great, maybe it should have a Lord on SB (thought about Bad Moon, but that'd improve their creatures too, specially on Discard, since Zombie Bridge is not that common around.). I've lost all games, just won a couple rounds vs discard / bridge.
Affinity...i have didn't included any Artifact hate (which one on mono-b?), but tried it out. Then, after 2 game loses, i've borded in Infest, over Choking Sands. Then i realized that Infest + Terror = gg. 2x i've Infested Board, and like on winnies, huge Feeder, he sacced every other dying creature, to a smaller but huge Ravager, swang with mu Feeder and hit, he swang with his ravager, sacced some other artifacts, including lands, and took Terror...gg.
Mana Denial is realllly cool vs Affinity. Shutting up Academy Ruins and Glimmervoid really rocks, also Wasteland becomes pretty effective on disrupting Artifact Lands, so Affinity artifact counts.
Nice catch on our behavior piloting this deck. I guess all-in-all, its fun and get really better, specially if we manage to get an effective SB.
By now, my side is:
04 Infest
04 Duress
03 Leyline of the Void
Blutsau: thanks for the tips on editing the primer. Don't know much about doing it, so i'm certain that there is of alot of flaws, specially on how to put it up to provide a likely reading (you know, first timer).
It's indeed a wall of text!, nice idea on spoiler tagging (never used, it'll be my first time also..:))
Thought about explaining each deck behavior, showing how to pilot it, also describing some MUs (tribal and non-tribal), trying to provide alternatives to deal with some enviroment threats, but dropped the idea. (even wrote the text, but as you said, i've looked to the Text Wall and thought that it was big enough to joyful reading).
Thanks for PM Menmarch about sticking it (correcting and editing will also help, since i know its not well written, even after i revised it). There was alot of hours involved on writing and reviewing it, and i think that its a tribe that many people has a crush on, so i guess it's a relevant material for further research on building a zombie deck.
Thanks for the compliments, i've tried my best to share with everybody here some aspects of this interesting tribe, from everything i've had a chance to learn about all different zombie decks strategies and how to pilot each one.
LOL...indeed a Banner would be AWSOME. I'm trying to improve my Photoshop skills, but still i'm not able to merge properly the pictures. But i'll try!
Anyone can vote on which 4 zombies pics to be included on the Zombie Primer's Banner. Thinking on: Gempalm Polluter, Sarcomancy, Lord of the Undead and Zombie Infestation.
Call to the Grave is do-able early enough with Dark Ritual, and whenever I play it in my group I become a big target.
Vulturous Zombies splash green, but they're flying which is great, and they get huge quickly and goes in well if the deck already has Putrid Leeches.
What do you guys think?
Maybe I missed them in the list, but Lim-Dul's Cohort is another zombie creature not mentioned. Not that great, but he exists nonetheless.
17x Swamp
4x Vivid Marsh
3x Savage Lands
Enchantments
4x Animate Dead
3x Call to the Grave
2x Cover of Darkness
4x Undead Warchief
4x Lord of the Undead
4x Death Baron
4x Vulturous Zombie
3x Unliving Psychopath
3x Liliana Vess
4x Dark Ritual
It's gone through some major revisions too. I had Lim-Dul the Necromancer in it, but he didn't work too well with the Call to the Grave. The Unliving Psychopaths are handy but not super great in this deck but are good rattlesnakes if there aren't any Call to the Graves out. I also had Stromgald Crusader in it but decided that his flying wasn't enough against dedicated fliers, hence the Vultures.
Basically it's point is to keep the board as clear as possible and then swarm with super-strong, and in the case of the Vulturous Zombie, flying zombies.
The main draw back is that it's slow and there aren't any Terror or other control or counter spells in it (Dash Hopes?), and no good utility 1-drops.
The Animate Deads will probably come out though, they're only good really if there are Mulldrifters in Graveyards or something with haste.
Do you have any suggestions for me? Are all of the pumpers too much?
2 unholy grotto
2 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 graven cairns
3 sunken ruins
4 crumbling necropolis
7 swamp
1 mountain
3 deathbringer thoctar
4 death baron
4 lord of the undead
3 lich lord of unx
3 unscythe killer of kings
4 Gempalm Polluter
4 shepherd of rot
4 vengeful dead
2 infectious horror
1 nicol bolas, planeswalker
4 counterspell
1 demonic tutor
About Lin-Duls Cohort i won't add, in fact, there are more than 200 zombies, i just added those who see play at the moment, or those whose have potencial to be explored. I'm not adding all zombies here, if was that so, it won't be a primer, a guide to Zombie builds, but just a gatherer listing all zombies avaluable.
to the recent posters::gonk: gosh.....seemed that my primer didn't help people improving their buildings after all. I know its a long text, but anyone took a time to read it? Looking at viables strategies? Paying attencion on which cards fits the theme at an effective rate?...:gonk:.
About Trailblazer build, i guess the last list i've posted is the best one i can build, it has a winning rate of some kind of 40-50% of the games.
My side became:
04 Withered Wretch
04 Duress
03 Gangrenous Zombies
Anyone has any improvement to suggest?
Now, i'm pushing Unearth Zombies, and i guess the R/B list seems the most stable so far. I'd do some further tests and post'em here. If any of you has any tested suggestion/deck for Unearth Zombies, feel free to post here.
Thanks for all feedback so far.
@bravemonkey: I would not care 'bout fliers, with all your lords you can just race them, I would cut the Vulturous Zombie as well as Lili and Psycho along Animate Dead and fill those slots with some of the 1 or 2cc creatures Asylum's listed in the primer, maybe dedicate three slots to something that draws cards - should be enough considering that you run 4 LotU.
Balthor the Defiled vs. [CARD]Patriarch's Bidding
[/CARD]
It seems to me that, when all costs are paid, Balthor is less effective than Bidding at returning mass zombies to play (that is after all our theme here). Balthor's effects = total 7CMC while Bidding only costs 5CMC. Both are equally likely to be counterspelled or discarded from your hand (Duress etc.) so you must ignore those effects, but in a 2/2 body, Balthor is further marginalized because he is suceptible to CREATURE removal. Also, Bidding targets a particular creature type, so unless you are playing against another tribal (and this shouldn't be a problem with Withered Wretch anyway), you will get back all of your creatures while they wont get any of theirs. Balthor however could ignores type, perhaps bringing all your opponents red and/or black creatures to play. Even with 2 Undead Warchief in play, his total CMC with ability is equal to 5, however, at that point wouldn't you rather be casting a Bidding instead of Warchief? Hmm... I am just curious as to why Balthor is a better zombie/zombie-support than Bidding. Don't get me wrong, he makes an appearance in my zombie builds often, but mostly as a one or two-of.
1) I never overextend when packed up with mass removal, i was just telling a game that can illustrate a possible gameplay where mass removal took its biggest potencial (cleaning the board, and leaving me with a big beater).
2) Yeah, i'm always between Terror and Smother. But Terror deals with more threats.
3) I get all aggro possible for the deck. Without a Lord, this deck don't really gets the aggro position.
Rancid Earth over Choking Sands....seems a nice choice, nice dig.
I love Lord of the Undead, but in this particular case, i think Death Baron is kind of superior, cause his is sided for aggro purposes (exactly to deal when the power lacked)
4) In fact, i realized Infest / Gangrenous Zombies can do the job, specially the former, since Affinity is pretty fast.
Sry, in fact, it was Smother...but i'm thinking on Terror all time (Terror is MD, Smother was a random inclusion).
5) Nice, i'll then, guess i'll make a tribal book to share on net. (there is alot of material, that i wrote while deckbuilding)
6) Oh, ok, i'll PM him in that case, but thx for the tip anyway.
7) LOL...thx for the tip again. I'll ask them for help the.
@ Dumbledork: 2 poinst:
1) Forces you to need 5 mana at disposal, that seems not so much just one more mana, but many times takes 4-5 turns to get this extra mana.
2) Vs tribal decks is a back drop, since the'll retrieve all their pieces as well (so goblins, elves, merfolks...all of them will also benefit from your cast)
4 Undead Warchief
4 Twisted Abomination
4 Grave Defiler
4 Gempalm Polluter
4 Putrid Raptor
4 Vengeful Dead
4 Dark Ritual
4 Patriarch's Bidding
2 Unholy Grotto
20 Swamp
Works OK for me in most games and every once in a while, it just owns. Built for duels or multiplayer. Definitely not optimal or anything, but solid at least.
Just realized this list hasn't been updated since 2007.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
@Morphiling:
I guess your deck is a little slow. Looking at it, i realized that your deck really start get going turn 3 (or you'll have to mulligan 'til you draw a Dark Ritual, even so...)
Dark Ritual is an unlikely card here, with only two possible targets, use it to cast LotU or Putrid Raptor. The former won't impact the board, since you won't cast a turn 2 card anway, so don't deserve spending 2 cards for it. The latter will cost you 4 cards (mana, ritual, discard and the card itself) and a single bounce or removal will ruin your day letting you with no further answers for a long time, but i'll agree that this one worth the risk, since a 4/4 first turn is always nice (but i'd prefer it on aggro decks, since i can keep the pressure turn 2 dropping other threats)
You won't use it with Bidding since when you get 3 mana it's unlikely to have creatures buried on your grave, since you'll start to be casting your critters. (and there is no discard outlet to fill your grave)
Gempalm Polluter: since your deck is really slow, polluter after turn 5-6 will be cycled for 1-2 lifeloss (you'll have 1-2 creatures out)...very suboptimal usage, don't you agree? You can see an optimal usage on Suicidal Zombies: (ritual , 3 Carnophage and/or Sarcomancy), next turn hit 6 cycle +3, and cantrip = 9 damage turn 2. Polluter loves alot of zombies out, so 1cmc creatures just have a partnership with it. I guess a Viscera Dragger would fit better here, since it can be cycled turn 2 and offer a threat to opponent's life through unearth.
Vengeful Dead: not likely fit here. As you noticed the deck is slow, and will take alot of time to a significant lifeloss given when creatures just start getting out by turn 3, and all at high cmc, so hardly you'll see a double drop. Also his beating is kind of lame for its cost, compared to cards alot more faster like Rotting Giant. He must work better on a swarming deck with an sac outlet.
Also i noticed there is no removal to deal with early threats (perfect deck to Goblin Lackey to face, slow and with no answers), or hand control, that without it, some cards could stop the deck by anytime (as Ghostly Prison, Magus of the Moat...).
I guess the deck is still a little unfocused, you have aggro options with no support (raptor and no way to take out creatures from its way to keep the beating, or giving it evasion); reanimation, but as a random usage, not pushing the theme (discard outlets or ways to fill your grave); pinging with Vengeful without trying to explore it, just a random usage as well. You're not on control position, just because there are no control card on it. No fast removal (a 4th turn damnation might not be fast enough, specially with only 2 of it, and only 22 lands, so no reliable 1 land drop per turn), or even a hand control to stop opponent to pushing his strategy.
I guess you should choose a path: aggro (drop down your creatures cmc; or pack up some early removal like Terror or Infest, to hold'on 'til your have enough mana to cast your beefs, or a way to ramp your mana), Control (go with removal, hand control, retrieve cards from grave...), Combo (try to abuse Vengeful Dead, try to mass produce zombies -tokens or not- and put in some sac outlet to force the direct damage, maybe you can use the Zombies of Rot idea), Reanimation (pack up discard outlets and cards that fill your grave to reanimate all of them).
Hope this comment helps improve your deck in any form.