Quite a while ago, I decided I should build a pure multiplayer beatdown deck. I knew it should be resilient enought to swallow all the wrath effects people would want to throw at the table, and the creatures should hit hard enough to end the game quickly. This deck has a few fragile but game ending combos as well, but they are not really the focus of this deck. Every single player that played with or against this deck can attest to its power and fun-to-play-withness.
Not only zombies have enough lords to pump your field, but we also have access to Zombie Apocalypse and Patriarch's Bidding to ignore wrath effects. Thrax's blue and red also gives us plenty of card advantage to play with. Demonic Tutor into Mystical Return is usually ridiculously powerful and any looting effect combined with Living Death is just pure love.
I don't plan on turning this thread into a primer, but I might if I get enough feedback and patience.
(c) Combo piece
(*) Dies to Zombie Apocalypse Last Updated: Avacyn Restored
Thraximundar Zombies is a pretty straightforward deck: Play zombies, throw them at your opponents and watch someone wrath the board away only for you to reanimate everything once again and keep hitting hard. If the game takes too long and people don't take enough care, you combo everyone out and walk away victorious.
At the beginning of the game, mulligan away any heavy-costed card in favor of your lords, early drops, and any of the mass reanimators (though you don't need more than one in your initial hand). You want to start making a presence in the early turns. The deck has enough card advantage that you will eventually draw some good fuel (Wheel of Fortune, Windfall and Memory Jar being the more important ones). After the first or second wrath of the game, reanimate everything and keep beating face.
If someone starts picking of cards from your graveyard, do not despair! You can always throw more stuff into the battlefield and into your 'yard. This deck is pretty powerful when fully utilizing the graveyard, but you don't always need it. If you feel like the game is going to be too slow, use your loot effect, utility lands and tutors to set a combo or a big exsanguinate and win the game.
Thraximundar itself is the best beater of the deck. Get him to cuddle your opponents thrice and they are dead and gone. You want to play him after someone nukes the board at least twice, when they won't have any/many blockers laying around. You can play around with diplomacy and your removals to pinpoint large threats and get some general damage through.
If you have a mass reanimator after a wrath or you fear some kind of tuck effect from your enemies, don't cast Thrax right now (Terminus and Hallowed Burial being an exception. You don't usually want your whole graveyard to be tucked away). Remember not to put any counters on him if you have a Mikaeus close to hit the battlefield to get some extra mileage.
Right now, there are very few cards that can answer non-creatures and opposing graveyards. This number should probably go up in time, but this deck never had any trouble with noncreatures so far (diplomacy goes a long way ensuring this).
Patriarch's Bidding, Living Death and Zombie Apocalypse:
These cards are the heart of the deck. This deck marks his presence in the battlefield fast and these three sorceries assure you that your presence is strong even after your zombies die a thousand deaths.
Vengeful Dead and Diregraf Ghoul:
They both punish your opponents for killing your creatures AND reward you for sacrificing your own creature. As most of your cards, they are good on the first time they hit the board and are even better after you mass-reanimate your post-nuked board.
Even though most of those weren't planned when the deck was built, there are a few game-ending combos in this deck if you are paying attention. All but one of the combos are graveyard-based, so they are vulnerable to exiling shenanigans. Fortunately for you, you don't need combos to win the game. Your creatures carry enough of a punch to end the game without you comboing out. If the games gets to a stalemate and no one can exile your grave, your victory is pretty much guaranteed.
Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler + Nantuko Husk or Carrion Feeder (+ Thraximundar / Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Ghoul):
Pretty straightforward here. Infinite sacrifices through Rooftop and Crawler gives you a pretty big Feeder, Husk or Thrax. Combine with Vengeful Dead or Diregraf Ghoul for insta-kill.
Actually, you don't even need Rooftop Storm to recur Gravecrawler. Getting Crawler, any sac outlet, and a death trigger together is usually very easy and can get you ahead very fast in the game even if they break your combo in two or three turns.
Deathbringer Thoctar + Death Baron:
Machine gun combo. Thoctar by himself kills every x/1 creature on the board, but give him deathtouch and he kills everything nonshrouded. This is the only non-grave-based combo here (you will actually need creatures hitting the bin to put counters on the thoctar, though).
Crypt Champion + Phantasmal Image + Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Ghoul:
This is the most complex combo in the deck: You need to either play Crypt Champion with Phantasmal Image in your graveyard OR cast the image into your Champion without using any red mana. Copy the Champion with your Image and stack the abilities so you sacrifice it before reanimating a creature. You will then reanimate the Image copying the Champion again and keep repeating this for infinite etb/death triggers.
Found this using google...not sure if you're still on here. I'm looking for a Zombie commander and I like this list. Have you made any updates to it? How do you deal w/ graveyard hate?
Hi, sorry for taking so long to answer, but I hadn't checked in these parts for a while.
I have tested a couple of cards in the list (namely Lich Lord of Unx and Call to the Grave) and the deck got a bit too controlish to my tastes. I ended up dismantling the deck to build a couple of others, but I often think about rebuilding it because it was so much fun.
Usually my strategy for beating grave hate was sending more stuff to the grave before they could hate me out again. The thing is, with the amount of pressure this deck can apply to your opponents, they will be hard-pressed to find any grave-hate.
If you are facing too many cards like Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void, you might as well try switching one of the reanimators to Chaos Warp and try to play more aggresively. It depends on your meta, but you might also try to switch it to a more counter-controlish build, force the combos more or even cut the combo cards to add more aggression (maybe with Bad Moon or something like that) so you don't depend too much on your graveyard.
If you're the only graveyard deck in your meta, chances are people might throw in a leyline or a tormods crypt if they can, but not much more. People can't use too many slots for just keeping others in check. I found that in playing Sharuum, which requires the yard in just about every combo, it works well to fake people out with their GY hate by dumping something scary but not necessary to your game plan, freak people out, and force their hand.
Not only zombies have enough lords to pump your field, but we also have access to Zombie Apocalypse and Patriarch's Bidding to ignore wrath effects. Thrax's blue and red also gives us plenty of card advantage to play with. Demonic Tutor into Mystical Return is usually ridiculously powerful and any looting effect combined with Living Death is just pure love.
I don't plan on turning this thread into a primer, but I might if I get enough feedback and patience.
00 Thraximundar
Zombie Lords
01 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed (c)
02 Undead Warchief
03 Diregraf Ghoul (c)
04 Death Baron (c)
05 Lord of Undead
06 Cemetery Reaper
Synergy Zombies
07 Noxious Ghoul
08 Graveborn Muse
09 Vengeful Dead (c)
10 Sheperd of Rot
Removal Zombies
11 Deathbringer Thoctar (c)
12 Skinthinner
13 Pyre Zombie
14 Fleshbag Marauder
Beatdown Zombies
15 Helldozer
16 Soulless One
17 Geralf's Messenger
18 Unbreathing Horde
Other Zombies
19 Jhessian Zombies
20 Twisted Abomination
21 Vengeful Pharaoh
22 Corpse Harvester
23 Corpse Connoisseur
24 Crypt Champion (c)
25 Grave Defiler
26 Undead Gladiator
27 Nantuko Husk (c)
28 Withered Wretch
29 Nightscape Familiar
30 Gravecrawler (c)
31 Carrion Feeder (c)
32 Phyrexian Metamorph
33 Shapesharer (*)
34 Phantasmal Image (c)
Mass Zombification
35 Zombie Apocalypse
36 Living Death
37 Patriarch's Bidding
Other Zombificators
38 Torrent of Souls
39 Mystical Return (zombie spellz)
40 Unearth
41 Profane Command
Wrath Effects
42 Decree of Pain
43 Life's Finale
44 Damnation
Planeswalkers, Enchantments and Artifacts
45 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
46 Sorin Markov
47 Rooftop Storm (c)
48 Memory Jar
49 Grave Pact
50 Attrition
Other Spells
51 Exsanguinate
52 Increasing Ambition
53 Syphon Flesh
54 Rite of Replication
55 Deep Analysis
56 Syphon Mind
57 Buried Alive
58 Forbidden Alchemy
59 Wheel of Fortune
60 Windfall
61 Desperate Ravings
62 Demonic Tutor
63 Faithless Looting
64 Nephalia Drownyard
65 Desolated Lighthouse
66 Leechridden Swamp
67 Bojuka Bog
68 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
69 Crypt of Agadeem
70 Cabal Coffers
71 Marsh Flats
72 Verdant Catacombs
73 Bloodstained Mire
74 Polluted Delta
75 Graven Cairn
76 Sunken Ruins
77 Lavaclaw Reaches
78 Creeping Tar Pit
79 Rakdos Carnarium
80 Dimir Aqueduct
81 Blood Crypt
82 Watery Grave
83 Steam Vents
84 Reflecting Pool
85 Crumbling Necropolis
86 Command Tower
87 Rupture Spire
Basic Lands
88 Mountain
89 Island
10x Swamp
(*) Dies to Zombie Apocalypse
Last Updated: Avacyn Restored
Thraximundar Zombies is a pretty straightforward deck: Play zombies, throw them at your opponents and watch someone wrath the board away only for you to reanimate everything once again and keep hitting hard. If the game takes too long and people don't take enough care, you combo everyone out and walk away victorious.
At the beginning of the game, mulligan away any heavy-costed card in favor of your lords, early drops, and any of the mass reanimators (though you don't need more than one in your initial hand). You want to start making a presence in the early turns. The deck has enough card advantage that you will eventually draw some good fuel (Wheel of Fortune, Windfall and Memory Jar being the more important ones). After the first or second wrath of the game, reanimate everything and keep beating face.
If someone starts picking of cards from your graveyard, do not despair! You can always throw more stuff into the battlefield and into your 'yard. This deck is pretty powerful when fully utilizing the graveyard, but you don't always need it. If you feel like the game is going to be too slow, use your loot effect, utility lands and tutors to set a combo or a big exsanguinate and win the game.
Thraximundar itself is the best beater of the deck. Get him to cuddle your opponents thrice and they are dead and gone. You want to play him after someone nukes the board at least twice, when they won't have any/many blockers laying around. You can play around with diplomacy and your removals to pinpoint large threats and get some general damage through.
If you have a mass reanimator after a wrath or you fear some kind of tuck effect from your enemies, don't cast Thrax right now (Terminus and Hallowed Burial being an exception. You don't usually want your whole graveyard to be tucked away). Remember not to put any counters on him if you have a Mikaeus close to hit the battlefield to get some extra mileage.
Right now, there are very few cards that can answer non-creatures and opposing graveyards. This number should probably go up in time, but this deck never had any trouble with noncreatures so far (diplomacy goes a long way ensuring this).
Patriarch's Bidding, Living Death and Zombie Apocalypse:
These cards are the heart of the deck. This deck marks his presence in the battlefield fast and these three sorceries assure you that your presence is strong even after your zombies die a thousand deaths.
Vengeful Dead and Diregraf Ghoul:
They both punish your opponents for killing your creatures AND reward you for sacrificing your own creature. As most of your cards, they are good on the first time they hit the board and are even better after you mass-reanimate your post-nuked board.
Even though most of those weren't planned when the deck was built, there are a few game-ending combos in this deck if you are paying attention. All but one of the combos are graveyard-based, so they are vulnerable to exiling shenanigans. Fortunately for you, you don't need combos to win the game. Your creatures carry enough of a punch to end the game without you comboing out. If the games gets to a stalemate and no one can exile your grave, your victory is pretty much guaranteed.
Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler + Nantuko Husk or Carrion Feeder (+ Thraximundar / Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Ghoul):
Pretty straightforward here. Infinite sacrifices through Rooftop and Crawler gives you a pretty big Feeder, Husk or Thrax. Combine with Vengeful Dead or Diregraf Ghoul for insta-kill.
Actually, you don't even need Rooftop Storm to recur Gravecrawler. Getting Crawler, any sac outlet, and a death trigger together is usually very easy and can get you ahead very fast in the game even if they break your combo in two or three turns.
Deathbringer Thoctar + Death Baron:
Machine gun combo. Thoctar by himself kills every x/1 creature on the board, but give him deathtouch and he kills everything nonshrouded. This is the only non-grave-based combo here (you will actually need creatures hitting the bin to put counters on the thoctar, though).
Deathbringer Thoctar + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Nantuko Husk/Carrion Feeder:
Sacrifice the Thoctar to bring it back with undying, ping with his counter, sacrifice again, wash, rinse, repeat and you pretty much win the game.
Crypt Champion + Phantasmal Image + Vengeful Dead / Diregraf Ghoul:
This is the most complex combo in the deck: You need to either play Crypt Champion with Phantasmal Image in your graveyard OR cast the image into your Champion without using any red mana. Copy the Champion with your Image and stack the abilities so you sacrifice it before reanimating a creature. You will then reanimate the Image copying the Champion again and keep repeating this for infinite etb/death triggers.
RRR Like a Bosh!
WUB Sharuum Solar Flare
UBR Thraximundar Zombie Beatdown
I have tested a couple of cards in the list (namely Lich Lord of Unx and Call to the Grave) and the deck got a bit too controlish to my tastes. I ended up dismantling the deck to build a couple of others, but I often think about rebuilding it because it was so much fun.
Usually my strategy for beating grave hate was sending more stuff to the grave before they could hate me out again. The thing is, with the amount of pressure this deck can apply to your opponents, they will be hard-pressed to find any grave-hate.
If you are facing too many cards like Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void, you might as well try switching one of the reanimators to Chaos Warp and try to play more aggresively. It depends on your meta, but you might also try to switch it to a more counter-controlish build, force the combos more or even cut the combo cards to add more aggression (maybe with Bad Moon or something like that) so you don't depend too much on your graveyard.
RRR Like a Bosh!
WUB Sharuum Solar Flare
UBR Thraximundar Zombie Beatdown
Padeem, Consul of Innovation - Artifact value/combo.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant - Sultai zombie reanimator.