If you really like Prized Amalgam, I say make him work. He's the most exciting card in the they-come-back tribe. He seems to work best with cards that bring themselves back. Yours all rely on someone else to bring them back.
This is a list I am collecting parts for,
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The red mage lives by the variance and dies by the variance. May the variance be with you, always.
If you really like Prized Amalgam, I say make him work. He's the most exciting card in the they-come-back tribe. He seems to work best with cards that bring themselves back. Yours all rely on someone else to bring them back.
Kahmos, how do you feel about 16 3cc cards?? Does Kalitas have a place in the line up?
What about Macabre Waltz?
The first part, I don't like the 16 3cc cards, but a lot of them seem like necessary cards in the archetype, so I felt that mono colored and at least 23 lands were both statistical requirements running a list like that.
Kalitas is a stand alone card, this usually means a big deal in standard. Aggro typically goes big or wise, Kalitas supports both, but the wide part is very mana intensive in a design I had that already had mana intensive cards (Relentless Dead and Vampiric Rites.) He doesn't have the ability to be reanimated outside of Ever After which I disincluded after running it through some simulations, Ever After seems to need bigger creatures to really work like typical reanimator cards.
Macabre Waltz was much better with Prized Amalgam, but otherwise it was sort of a tempo loss, I think maybe it could be a 1 of to pull back Relentless Deads late late game. You really have to rely and respect how Relentless Dead can reanimate Fleshbag Marauder over and over to empty a board. The real trouble is getting him to die for free.
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The red mage lives by the variance and dies by the variance. May the variance be with you, always.
I actually took my little deck to 1st place at last week's FNM. I didn't play any of the major netdecks though but some pretty tough variations, beating both the 2nd and 3rd runners-up. One guy said it was just zombies everywhere. I've adjusted it slightly, taking out things like Ever After and Transgress the Mind.
I've kinda settled on to what kind of zombie build I'm going to play going forward, but that doesn't mean i don't have more zombie ideas that i'd like to share and maybe inspire someone else.
I looked back through the threads again and I didn't see this, so I think it'll be a new twist on the idea.
Like I said, both are jumping off points, so be kind. I think these could be decent zombie decks and by far the best ones I've seen with Risen Executioner (best as in can reliably self-revive them).
Hi,
Ive been running this brew for a little bit and having good success with it. Also mana runs pretty smooth, no consistant color issuses. Feel free to offer any suggestions or commments!!
Overall its a U/B zombie shell with a splash of GB delirium. deck has 10 mass mill effects not counting Sinister Concoction.
The deck runs best when it gets a few graveyard mill effects. Mindwrack is a solid beater, and with good mills, Colossus is Valuetown. As the game goes later, the boardstate gets out of hand quickly.
Interesting notes:
Mindwrack Demon: While not a zombie this guys a hoss. typically one mill effect plus his ETB will be enough to turn delerium on. helps put zombies into the graveyard. Causes very large Diregraf Colossus
Relentless Dead: we know what hes there for.
Stitchwing skabb: can activate during the end of your oppponents second main phase, triggering Prized Amalgam to enter during their turn, and ready to attack on your turn. Also you can discard amalgam to stitchwing and still get the trigger
Sinister Concoction: Mills and kills. +1 for delirium count. nice to have a turn one, and leaving the lingering threat of removal on the table is nice. Also hits land creatures!
Corpse Churn: like a mini gather the pack, also nice that its instant speed, can can be done at EOT if you were holding open mana in case/for Relentless dead Resurrection.
Nantuko Husk: Kind of weak in this deck, but +1 to zombie counts, +1 to liliana flip trigger, +1 to relentless sac trigger, and occasionally an all star in flooded board state.
With the zombies in emn already spoiled, I'm thinking the way to go is via self mill/madness/recursion route. Still not surr how I'm gonna go bout it, but will definitely try out gisa and geralf along with the new lili
With the zombies in emn already spoiled, I'm thinking the way to go is via self mill/madness/recursion route. Still not surr how I'm gonna go bout it, but will definitely try out gisa and geralf along with the new lili
Im thinking that will also help Prized Amalgam come back for free.
Initial results indicate that this deck is simply too slow to be competitive. See Reddit Spikes forums, I hope they are wrong because I'm about to start testing this with various card combinations. I can see a few versions of this deck but ultimately it comes down to this:
Is it strong enough to battle the current top tiers? Well, as a Dimir Mage I hope so.
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Initial results indicate that this deck is simply too slow to be competitive. See Reddit Spikes forums, I hope they are wrong because I'm about to start testing this with various card combinations. I can see a few versions of this deck but ultimately it comes down to this:
Is it strong enough to battle the current top tiers? Well, as a Dimir Mage I hope so.
Initial results indicate that this deck is simply too slow to be competitive. See Reddit Spikes forums, I hope they are wrong because I'm about to start testing this with various card combinations. I can see a few versions of this deck but ultimately it comes down to this:
Is it strong enough to battle the current top tiers? Well, as a Dimir Mage I hope so.
Yeah, in my testing its been a struggle against w/R HUmans G/W Tokens. if the get ahead even a little bit, it's super hard to catch up. New Liliana,the Last Hope helps midigate this somewhat. I've personally been experimenting with two variations of the the build
Grim Flayer was originally in the deck in place of Undead Servant. Flayer IS a powerful card, but I think he works better in a more dedicated Delirium deck strategy. Servant is PERFECT discard fodder for Cryptbreaker, Gisa and Geralf, and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, and only gets better the longer the game plays out. I want to fit Collective Brutality in the deck somehow, but I'm not quite sure I know what to take out in order to fit it in.
I'm honestly baffled by what I'm hearing about redditors. the point of the deck is that it totally undermines tempo and control strategies. It certainly doesn't have any interest in being more aggressive than tokens, coco or spirits.
Initial results indicate that this deck is simply too slow to be competitive. See Reddit Spikes forums, I hope they are wrong because I'm about to start testing this with various card combinations. I can see a few versions of this deck but ultimately it comes down to this:
Is it strong enough to battle the current top tiers? Well, as a Dimir Mage I hope so.
Yeah, in my testing its been a struggle against w/R HUmans G/W Tokens. if the get ahead even a little bit, it's super hard to catch up. New Liliana,the Last Hope helps midigate this somewhat. I've personally been experimenting with two variations of the the build
Grim Flayer was originally in the deck in place of Undead Servant. Flayer IS a powerful card, but I think he works better in a more dedicated Delirium deck strategy. Servant is PERFECT discard fodder for Cryptbreaker, Gisa and Geralf, and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, and only gets better the longer the game plays out. I want to fit Collective Brutality in the deck somehow, but I'm not quite sure I know what to take out in order to fit it in.
That's a crazy-lot of Liliana you've got there. Aren't you going to be holding onto one regularly? Or are you planning to just minus the crap out of them?
It may be that the deck wants to be like the old Mono Black Disruption decks with U splash for a finisher. If the goal is to keep them off balance and control the board than Discard, some healthy dosage of removal may be key. I'm not sure, though I'm in the initial conceptualization phase.
There are good zombies, but they are more within the 3cmc and up. The best zombies are under the that and they are 4 of's auto include See:
From there, the deck needs to decide if it's best suited to aggro (I think not), Midrange (More on the control side/ Synergistic applications), and it may be able to morph itself after SB into a control deck that plays higher on the curve. I'm not sure, there is even an idea that it wants to go wide. I'm looking forward to brewing, when I played zombies it was when we had Undead Warchief and that deck was pretty good.
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Initial results indicate that this deck is simply too slow to be competitive. See Reddit Spikes forums, I hope they are wrong because I'm about to start testing this with various card combinations. I can see a few versions of this deck but ultimately it comes down to this:
Is it strong enough to battle the current top tiers? Well, as a Dimir Mage I hope so.
Yeah, in my testing its been a struggle against w/R HUmans G/W Tokens. if the get ahead even a little bit, it's super hard to catch up. New Liliana,the Last Hope helps midigate this somewhat. I've personally been experimenting with two variations of the the build
Grim Flayer was originally in the deck in place of Undead Servant. Flayer IS a powerful card, but I think he works better in a more dedicated Delirium deck strategy. Servant is PERFECT discard fodder for Cryptbreaker, Gisa and Geralf, and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, and only gets better the longer the game plays out. I want to fit Collective Brutality in the deck somehow, but I'm not quite sure I know what to take out in order to fit it in.
That's a crazy-lot of Liliana you've got there. Aren't you going to be holding onto one regularly? Or are you planning to just minus the crap out of them?
Glad you noticed! Yeah the idea is to have a version of Lili on the battlefield at all times and decide, depending on the circumstances, which one is better suited to use at the time. Last Hope can pull Heretical Healer from the graveyard to hand. I've been debating whether I should remove Healer from the deck in place of Collective Brutality but I need to do more testing.
I like what you have working here, and despite somewhat contradicting your previous statement of not splashing blue, I see you do have Prized Amalgamation in the deck. It's a good card. One I'd forgotten about. However, I believe you should be running two copies of Gisa and Geralf instead of two Risen Executioner. GG allows you to fill up your graveyard and cast zombie cards from the grave. Executioner sucks as a zombie lord for a number of reasons:
1) You're paying four mana for a +1+1 black pump spell that isn't an enchantment, but a creature. Creatures are the most easily removed permanents in the game. Also, other colors provide the same benefits for two or three mana (Always Watching being the most prevalent in the format right now).
2) You're spending four mana to cast a a 4/3 that can't block, nor does he pass the "bolt test." This can be a huge loss in tempo because you're paying four or more mana just to resurrect him.
What do you guys think of dark salvation? I'm thinking it can be used as a removal spell while from the underboards can be used for life gain. Of course incorporating the madness mechanic is needed for it. Lol still wishing there was an undead warchief available to us
I like what you have working here, and despite somewhat contradicting your previous statement of not splashing blue, I see you do have Prized Amalgamation in the deck. It's a good card. One I'd forgotten about. However, I believe you should be running two copies of Gisa and Geralf instead of two Risen Executioner. GG allows you to fill up your graveyard and cast zombie cards from the grave. Executioner socks as a zombie lord for a number of reasons:
1) You're paying four mana for a +1+1 black pump spell that isn't an enchantment, but a creature. Creatures are the most easily removed permanents in the game. Also, other colors provide the same benefits for two or three mana (Always Watching being the most prevalent in the format right now).
2) you're spending four mana to cast a a 4/3 that can't block, nor does he pass the "bolt test." This can be a huge loss in tempo because you're paying four or more mana just to resurrect him.
Read the Bones is a much better draw spell than Succumb to Temptation.
Risen Executioner is basically discard fodder for Cryptbreaker and Brutality until I so can drop him out of nowhere and swing for game. GG can not be discarded for Cryptbreaker and Brutality each of which are DISGUISTING right now(Brutality can Dead Weight and Durress someone for 1B...so good) GG is not for this kind of midrange deck and is more suited for spamming powerful bombs out of your graveyard than spamming zombie tokens.
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Ophelia Le Doux (R/B)
Creature - Vampire Assassin
Haste First Strike
1/1
If you're looking for discard fodder, you'd be much better off with madness cards than using Risen Executioner. I like the Executioner, but honestly, he's kind of bad in a deck with a lot of creatures because he becomes almost impossible to self-revive. He works great in low creature count zombie token decks. I think I posted a list of that on one of the previous pages.
I don't particularly see how "blue dilutes the deck". You get to pick the cards you add in. If you put in Gisa and Geralf you wouldn't have to have a play set of Cemetery Recruitment. You could play with much more efficient card draw like Take Inventory or Scour the Laboratory, and in all of the mentioned cases, you just made the deck more efficient while adding in cards that did almost the exact same things as the cards you took out.
Honestly I can literally revive virtually 95 percent of the creatures in my deck and Risen Executioner turns my zombie tokens into much more powerful threats late game as even if he dies I can always reuse him and rebuild my board. UB zombies decks are either poor delirium decks or slow tribal decks. Blue zombies force you to discard cards to play them again at a cheaper cost. Black Zombie are much more traditional in your face, tribal focused where blue zombies belong in an entirely different build. I think what you are missing is that the only thing that would enter my graveyard would honestly be prized because Recruitment would bring back the cards I needed to cast Risen Executioner from the grave and bring back all of my prized and trigger off my Colossus to get a free token. My build destroys control Reflector mage can not stop token spamming plus all of my creatures are very low cost so I can easily rebuild my board after a wipe in 1-2 especially with Risen as he is my insurance. Say my board gets wiped I can seriously keep returning my board back until you break the chain. Luckly Zulport was not a zombie.
Cemetary Recruitment is just a great card in this deck basically it is a draw two for 2 in this deck. I can get back Risen if his casting cost would be too high and pump up my current board and etc. Risen Executioner is the glue that holds the deck together. No amount of madness cards can bring back 60 percent of your board in one card over and over again.
If you have Cockatrice we can duke it out.
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Ophelia Le Doux (R/B)
Creature - Vampire Assassin
Haste First Strike
1/1
1. The blue cards I suggested for your deck do exactly the same thing as the cards I suggested removing. The only difference is they do it better or more efficiently. Succumb to Temptation vs Take Inventory. Take inventory draws more cards for less mana PLUS you can discard them to your zombie and they're still effective. Cemetery Recruitment vs Gisa and Geralf. Cemetery Recruitment gets a creature back to your hand and can also draw a card if you have a zombie in play. Gisa and Geralf gets a creature for every turn it's in play. In both cases they do the same as the cards they replace, only better. You didn't have to "discard cards to play them at a cheaper cost" and you're still able to be "traditional in your face, tribal focus".
2. How can you possibly self revive Risen Executioner with any reliability/consistency? You have 22 creatures in the deck. The math doesn't support it. If you manage to play "1-drop, 2-drop, 3-drop, Risen" (ie, a perfect curve), and you get swept, then you have Risen + 3 creatures in the GY. It'll take 7 mana to revive and you'll have 5 mana on the board starting turn 5. Even if you're going to play with a Raise the Dead card like Cemetery Recruitment, why not use it on something like Gisa and Geralf that will bring back even more zombies? It makes even more Prized triggers, and even more unrelenting zombies.
1) Take Inventory is only good in self mill build which this is not at all.
Cemetery Recruitment allows you to grab a creature from your graveyard and if it is a zombie then you draw a card. No in play basically Cemetery Recruitment IS my GG and it is 1B AND draws me a card as well. Grabbing Gisa and Geralf would make this worse than reclaim or any other type of card. I have tested Gisa and Geralf and honestly they either A) add nothing to the deck or B)make the deck worse by grabbing someone that does not either provide immediate +1s before T4 or simply powerful enough to win you the game.
Risen Executioner is never ever played honestly before T6 because I either discard him to Cryptbreaker or Brutality then if I am facing heavy removal then I will either Liliana, The Last Hope -2 or Cemetery Recruitment and bring back my board. Control will run out of gas before they have a chance to gain any ground.
I am thinking about 1 Bone Splinters for Relentless Dead to combo and bring my board back.
Also a T5 How is Gisa and Geralf even useful when you are basically tapped out anyway? Actually you would have to wait till T6 to even CAST Gisa and Geralf and they are removal target like hell. I have honestly only got to use them once and it cost be so much tempo to get them online that it was not worth it.
What about Macabre Waltz?
C Long Live Eldrazi C
The first part, I don't like the 16 3cc cards, but a lot of them seem like necessary cards in the archetype, so I felt that mono colored and at least 23 lands were both statistical requirements running a list like that.
Kalitas is a stand alone card, this usually means a big deal in standard. Aggro typically goes big or wise, Kalitas supports both, but the wide part is very mana intensive in a design I had that already had mana intensive cards (Relentless Dead and Vampiric Rites.) He doesn't have the ability to be reanimated outside of Ever After which I disincluded after running it through some simulations, Ever After seems to need bigger creatures to really work like typical reanimator cards.
Macabre Waltz was much better with Prized Amalgam, but otherwise it was sort of a tempo loss, I think maybe it could be a 1 of to pull back Relentless Deads late late game. You really have to rely and respect how Relentless Dead can reanimate Fleshbag Marauder over and over to empty a board. The real trouble is getting him to die for free.
This is how it sits at the moment:
4 Rancid Rats
4 Screeching Skaab
4 Relentless Dead
4 Diregraf Colossus
2 Prized Amalgam
3 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Risen Executioner
3 Geralf's Masterpiece
Planeswalker 2
2 Liliana, Heretical Healer
Spells 9
2 Negate
2 Ultimate Price
2 Altar's Reap
1 Duress
2 Ruinous Path
4 Choked Estuary
4 Sunken Hollow
8 Swamp
4 Island
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Westvale Abbey
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Dragonlord Silumgar
2 Invasive Surgery
2 Dispel
1 Ruinous Path
2 Languish
2 Horribly Awry
2 Infinite Obliteration
It is just about pumping out Zombies, buffing them and returning them. It's not going to win a ProTour but it's fun.
I looked back through the threads again and I didn't see this, so I think it'll be a new twist on the idea.
What if you take a UB control (or even mono black), add in the zombie token creators From Under the Floorboards, Gisa's Bidding, and Rise from the Tides, and then make the creature Risen Executioner (and possibly Prized Amalgam). I'd probably add in Brain in a Jar, so I can have instant speed tokens since 2 of those cards bring them to play tapped. Or possibly some cheap repeatable discard like Call the Bloodline if it were the mono-black build.
Here's 2 thrown together lists. I think of them as jumping off points.
4 Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
4 Risen Executioner
Sorceries 12
4 From Under the Floorboards
4 Gisa's Bidding
4 Ruinous Path
4 To the Slaughter
4 Ultimate Price
Enchantments 4
4 Call the Bloodline
4 Corrupted Grafstone
Lands 24
24 Lands
(FYI - I know Ghoulcaller's Accomplice is bad. Just a placeholder. Could easily just be another removal or some card draw.)
4 Prized Amalgam
3 Risen Executioner
Sorceries 9
3 From Under the Floorboards
4 Gisa's Bidding
2 Rise from the Tides
4 Artificers Epiphany
4 Broken Concentration
4 Ultimate Price
4 Brain in a Jar
4 Corrupted Grafstone
Lands 24
24 Lands
Like I said, both are jumping off points, so be kind. I think these could be decent zombie decks and by far the best ones I've seen with Risen Executioner (best as in can reliably self-revive them).
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Geralf's Masterpiece
4 Relentless Dead
4 Risen Executioner
4 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Ruinous Path
3 Duress
Instant (4)
4 Grasp of Darkness
Land (24)
4 Choked Estuary
4 Sunken Hollow
10 Swamp
6 Island
Link: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/top-decks/almost-there-2016-06-14
Ive been running this brew for a little bit and having good success with it. Also mana runs pretty smooth, no consistant color issuses. Feel free to offer any suggestions or commments!!
Overall its a U/B zombie shell with a splash of GB delirium. deck has 10 mass mill effects not counting Sinister Concoction.
The deck runs best when it gets a few graveyard mill effects. Mindwrack is a solid beater, and with good mills, Colossus is Valuetown. As the game goes later, the boardstate gets out of hand quickly.
Interesting notes:
Mindwrack Demon: While not a zombie this guys a hoss. typically one mill effect plus his ETB will be enough to turn delerium on. helps put zombies into the graveyard. Causes very large Diregraf Colossus
Relentless Dead: we know what hes there for.
Stitchwing skabb: can activate during the end of your oppponents second main phase, triggering Prized Amalgam to enter during their turn, and ready to attack on your turn. Also you can discard amalgam to stitchwing and still get the trigger
Sinister Concoction: Mills and kills. +1 for delirium count. nice to have a turn one, and leaving the lingering threat of removal on the table is nice. Also hits land creatures!
Corpse Churn: like a mini gather the pack, also nice that its instant speed, can can be done at EOT if you were holding open mana in case/for Relentless dead Resurrection.
Nantuko Husk: Kind of weak in this deck, but +1 to zombie counts, +1 to liliana flip trigger, +1 to relentless sac trigger, and occasionally an all star in flooded board state.
4 Relentless Dead
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Mindwrack demon
3 Stitchwing Skaab
2 Nantuko Husk
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Instants:
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Corpse Churn
2 Compelling Deterrence
1 Ruinous Path
4 Gather the Pack
Enchantments:
2 Sinister Concoction
Lands:
7 Swamp
2 Island
1 Forest
3 Choked Estuary
2 Sunken Hollow
3 Hissing Quagmire
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Westvale Abbey
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Duress
2 Negate
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Languish
1 Silumgar's Command
2 Dead Weight
2 Compelling Deterrence
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
Im thinking that will also help Prized Amalgam come back for free.
Is it strong enough to battle the current top tiers? Well, as a Dimir Mage I hope so.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
Do you have a link to this Reddit Spikes forums?
Yeah, in my testing its been a struggle against w/R HUmans G/W Tokens. if the get ahead even a little bit, it's super hard to catch up. New Liliana,the Last Hope helps midigate this somewhat. I've personally been experimenting with two variations of the the build
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Sunken Hollow
4 Evolving Wilds
9 Swamp
2 Forest
1 Island
CREATURES
1 Den Protector
4 Shambling Goblin
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Relentless Dead
4 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Liliana, Heretical Healer
4 Undead Servant
2 Gisa and Geralf
4 Liliana, the Last Hope
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES
4 Grapple with the Past
1 Dark Petition
ENCHANTMENTS
1 Graf Harvest
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Murder
2 Naturalize
2 Clip Wings
3 Languish
1 Ultimate Price
3 Grasp of Darkness
Grim Flayer was originally in the deck in place of Undead Servant. Flayer IS a powerful card, but I think he works better in a more dedicated Delirium deck strategy. Servant is PERFECT discard fodder for Cryptbreaker, Gisa and Geralf, and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, and only gets better the longer the game plays out. I want to fit Collective Brutality in the deck somehow, but I'm not quite sure I know what to take out in order to fit it in.
That's a crazy-lot of Liliana you've got there. Aren't you going to be holding onto one regularly? Or are you planning to just minus the crap out of them?
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
There are good zombies, but they are more within the 3cmc and up. The best zombies are under the that and they are 4 of's auto include See:
Relentless Dead
Cryptbreaker
From there, the deck needs to decide if it's best suited to aggro (I think not), Midrange (More on the control side/ Synergistic applications), and it may be able to morph itself after SB into a control deck that plays higher on the curve. I'm not sure, there is even an idea that it wants to go wide. I'm looking forward to brewing, when I played zombies it was when we had Undead Warchief and that deck was pretty good.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Relentless Dead
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Diregraf Colossus
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
1 Erebos's Titan
2 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Risen Executioner
1 Gisa's Bidding
1 From Under the Floorboards
1 Dark Salvation
3 Collective Brutality
1 Succumb to Temptation
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
2 Nephalia Acadamy
4 Choked Estuary
2 Drownyard Temple
1 Westvale Abbey
14 Swamp
Ophelia Le Doux (R/B)
Creature - Vampire Assassin
Haste First Strike
1/1
Gold: 0
Inventory: Clothes
Abilities:
Traits: Speed
Experience: 6/20
Mana: R
Odula Besa (U/B)
Creature - Vampire Artificer
T: Target artifact creature gets your choice of -1/-0 or +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/1
Gold: 41
Inventory: Adventurer's Clothes, Basic Artificer Toolkit, 3 pounds of Basic metal.
Abilities: N/A
Current Goals:
Experience: 1/20
Mana: 2(U/B)(U/B)
Glad you noticed! Yeah the idea is to have a version of Lili on the battlefield at all times and decide, depending on the circumstances, which one is better suited to use at the time. Last Hope can pull Heretical Healer from the graveyard to hand. I've been debating whether I should remove Healer from the deck in place of Collective Brutality but I need to do more testing.
I like what you have working here, and despite somewhat contradicting your previous statement of not splashing blue, I see you do have Prized Amalgamation in the deck. It's a good card. One I'd forgotten about. However, I believe you should be running two copies of Gisa and Geralf instead of two Risen Executioner. GG allows you to fill up your graveyard and cast zombie cards from the grave. Executioner sucks as a zombie lord for a number of reasons:
1) You're paying four mana for a +1+1 black pump spell that isn't an enchantment, but a creature. Creatures are the most easily removed permanents in the game. Also, other colors provide the same benefits for two or three mana (Always Watching being the most prevalent in the format right now).
2) You're spending four mana to cast a a 4/3 that can't block, nor does he pass the "bolt test." This can be a huge loss in tempo because you're paying four or more mana just to resurrect him.
Read the Bones is a much better draw spell than Succumb to Temptation.
EDIT: Card tags and grammar.
Risen Executioner is basically discard fodder for Cryptbreaker and Brutality until I so can drop him out of nowhere and swing for game. GG can not be discarded for Cryptbreaker and Brutality each of which are DISGUISTING right now(Brutality can Dead Weight and Durress someone for 1B...so good) GG is not for this kind of midrange deck and is more suited for spamming powerful bombs out of your graveyard than spamming zombie tokens.
Ophelia Le Doux (R/B)
Creature - Vampire Assassin
Haste First Strike
1/1
Gold: 0
Inventory: Clothes
Abilities:
Traits: Speed
Experience: 6/20
Mana: R
Odula Besa (U/B)
Creature - Vampire Artificer
T: Target artifact creature gets your choice of -1/-0 or +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/1
Gold: 41
Inventory: Adventurer's Clothes, Basic Artificer Toolkit, 3 pounds of Basic metal.
Abilities: N/A
Current Goals:
Experience: 1/20
Mana: 2(U/B)(U/B)
I don't particularly see how "blue dilutes the deck". You get to pick the cards you add in. If you put in Gisa and Geralf you wouldn't have to have a play set of Cemetery Recruitment. You could play with much more efficient card draw like Take Inventory or Scour the Laboratory, and in all of the mentioned cases, you just made the deck more efficient while adding in cards that did almost the exact same things as the cards you took out.
Cemetary Recruitment is just a great card in this deck basically it is a draw two for 2 in this deck. I can get back Risen if his casting cost would be too high and pump up my current board and etc. Risen Executioner is the glue that holds the deck together. No amount of madness cards can bring back 60 percent of your board in one card over and over again.
If you have Cockatrice we can duke it out.
Ophelia Le Doux (R/B)
Creature - Vampire Assassin
Haste First Strike
1/1
Gold: 0
Inventory: Clothes
Abilities:
Traits: Speed
Experience: 6/20
Mana: R
Odula Besa (U/B)
Creature - Vampire Artificer
T: Target artifact creature gets your choice of -1/-0 or +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/1
Gold: 41
Inventory: Adventurer's Clothes, Basic Artificer Toolkit, 3 pounds of Basic metal.
Abilities: N/A
Current Goals:
Experience: 1/20
Mana: 2(U/B)(U/B)
1. The blue cards I suggested for your deck do exactly the same thing as the cards I suggested removing. The only difference is they do it better or more efficiently. Succumb to Temptation vs Take Inventory. Take inventory draws more cards for less mana PLUS you can discard them to your zombie and they're still effective. Cemetery Recruitment vs Gisa and Geralf. Cemetery Recruitment gets a creature back to your hand and can also draw a card if you have a zombie in play. Gisa and Geralf gets a creature for every turn it's in play. In both cases they do the same as the cards they replace, only better. You didn't have to "discard cards to play them at a cheaper cost" and you're still able to be "traditional in your face, tribal focus".
2. How can you possibly self revive Risen Executioner with any reliability/consistency? You have 22 creatures in the deck. The math doesn't support it. If you manage to play "1-drop, 2-drop, 3-drop, Risen" (ie, a perfect curve), and you get swept, then you have Risen + 3 creatures in the GY. It'll take 7 mana to revive and you'll have 5 mana on the board starting turn 5. Even if you're going to play with a Raise the Dead card like Cemetery Recruitment, why not use it on something like Gisa and Geralf that will bring back even more zombies? It makes even more Prized triggers, and even more unrelenting zombies.
Cemetery Recruitment allows you to grab a creature from your graveyard and if it is a zombie then you draw a card. No in play basically Cemetery Recruitment IS my GG and it is 1B AND draws me a card as well. Grabbing Gisa and Geralf would make this worse than reclaim or any other type of card. I have tested Gisa and Geralf and honestly they either A) add nothing to the deck or B)make the deck worse by grabbing someone that does not either provide immediate +1s before T4 or simply powerful enough to win you the game.
Risen Executioner is never ever played honestly before T6 because I either discard him to Cryptbreaker or Brutality then if I am facing heavy removal then I will either Liliana, The Last Hope -2 or Cemetery Recruitment and bring back my board. Control will run out of gas before they have a chance to gain any ground.
I am thinking about 1 Bone Splinters for Relentless Dead to combo and bring my board back.
Also a T5 How is Gisa and Geralf even useful when you are basically tapped out anyway? Actually you would have to wait till T6 to even CAST Gisa and Geralf and they are removal target like hell. I have honestly only got to use them once and it cost be so much tempo to get them online that it was not worth it.
Ophelia Le Doux (R/B)
Creature - Vampire Assassin
Haste First Strike
1/1
Gold: 0
Inventory: Clothes
Abilities:
Traits: Speed
Experience: 6/20
Mana: R
Odula Besa (U/B)
Creature - Vampire Artificer
T: Target artifact creature gets your choice of -1/-0 or +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/1
Gold: 41
Inventory: Adventurer's Clothes, Basic Artificer Toolkit, 3 pounds of Basic metal.
Abilities: N/A
Current Goals:
Experience: 1/20
Mana: 2(U/B)(U/B)