Aphemia, the Freaky Zombchantress - Primer

Commander / EDH Enchant Mono-Black Tokens Zombie

Rossa

Creature (27)

• 1x Bog Witch
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Doomwake Giant
• 1x Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Fate Unraveler
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gravebreaker Lamia
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Lampad of Death's Vigil
• 1x Mindwrack Harpy
• 1x Murderous Rider
• 1x Nightmare Shepherd
• 1x Oriq Loremage
• 1x Scourge of Nel Toth
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Skirk Ridge Exhumer
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stitcher's Supplier
• 1x Tormod, the Desecrator
• 1x Tymaret, Chosen from Death
• 1x Undead Augur
• 1x Vengeful Pharaoh

Instant (2)

• 1x Hagra Mauling  ^Flip
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Enchantment (18)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Bastion of Remembrance
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dark Prophecy
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Haunted Crossroads
• 1x Liliana's Contract
• 1x Oath of Liliana
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Phyrexian Scriptures
• 1x Shade's Form
• 1x The Eldest Reborn
• 1x Underworld Connections
• 1x Vampiric Rites

Artifact (11)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Heraldic Banner
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Mask of Memory
• 1x Nyx Lotus
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Smuggler's Copter
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strixhaven Stadium
• 1x Unstable Obelisk

Commander (1)

Land (33)

• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Drownyard Temple
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x High Market
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 20x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x War Room
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Blood on the Snow
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Extinguish All Hope
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Necrotic Hex

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Maybeboard

Creature (11)

• 1x Blightcaster
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Gravespawn Sovereign
• 1x Grim Guardian
• 1x Mire Triton
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Nighthowler
• 1x Overseer of the Damned
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Thoughtrender Lamia
• 1x Tomb Robber

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Casting of Bones
• 1x Demonic Embrace
• 1x Hecatomb
• 1x Liliana's Mastery
• 1x Minion's Return
• 1x Seal of Doom
• 1x Unhallowed Pact
• 1x Unholy Indenture
• 1x Yoke of the Damned
• 1x Zombie Infestation

Land (2)

• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Field of the Dead

Artifact (2)

• 1x Whip of Erebos
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Dread Summons
• 1x Kindred Dominance

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If you ask me how to win a game with Aphemia, I have a 4 steps guidance to achieve this goal:

1. Put enchantment cards to the Graveyard in various ways.
2. Exile them with Aphemia to create a zombie token. (Create tokens anyhow)
3. Attack with the token, or sacrifice it for value.
4. Bring powerful cards to play by the value gained at step 3 to win the game.

Let’s see it one by one!

1. Put enchantment cards to the Graveyard in various ways.(There are 28 enchantments in the deck, so you have great chance to have some in hand when you start the game.)

Bog Witch : Discard one to get 3 mana.
Cryptbreaker : Discard one to create a zombie token. (With 3 zombies you can draw a card.)
Geier Reach Sanitarium : Draw a card, then discard an enchantment.
Gravebreaker Lamia : Put an enchantment from your Library to Graveyard.
Mask of Memory : Attack with Aphemia in turn 3, draw 2 cards, then discard an enchantment.
Mindwrack Harpy : Put many cards from your Library to the Graveyard.
Oriq Loremage : Put an enchantment from your Library to Graveyard.
Skirk Ridge Exhumer : Discard one to create a zombie (goblin) token.
Smuggler's Copter : Attack with the Copter, draw a card, then discard an enchantment.
Stitcher's Supplier : Put many cards from your Library to the Graveyard.

*There are some other cards in the deck that worth putting to the Graveyard, like Vengeful Pharaoh or Increasing Ambition .

2. Exile them with Aphemia to create a zombie token. (Create tokens anyhow) Army of the Damned , Cryptbreaker , Grave Titan , Liliana, Dreadhorde General , Necrotic Hex , Westvale Abbey  , Skirk Ridge Exhumer , Tormod, the Desecrator . I have to mention Gravecrawler here, since it can be casted from the Graveyard again and again if you have a zombie in play.

3. Attack with the token, or sacrifice it for value.
There are few cards only in the deck that support the attack:

Strixhaven Stadium : Deal damage with 10 zombie tokens to win the game.
Grave Titan : Attack to get some more zombies.
Heraldic Banner : +1 on Power.

Based upon this you can see that attack is not always an option in this deck. However there are other cards that create value by our zombie tokens (or cause lethal disadvantage to the opponent).

Value:
Ashnod's Altar : Sacrifice a token to gain mana.
Phyrexian Tower : Sacrifice a token to gain mana.
Westvale Abbey  : Sacrifice 5 tokens to transform the land to a demon.
Cryptbreaker : Tap 3 zombie tokens to draw a card.
Erebos, Bleak-Hearted : Sacrifice a token to draw a card.
Dark Prophecy : Sacrifice a token to draw a card.
Undead Augur : Sacrifice a token to draw a card.
Vampiric Rites : Sacrifice a token to draw a card.
Skullclamp : Sacrifice a token to draw a card.
Liliana, Dreadhorde General : Sacrifice a token to draw a card.
Sidisi, Undead Vizier : Sacrifice a token to search your Library.
Diabolic Intent : Sacrifice a token to search your Library.

Disadvantage:
Attrition : Sacrifice a token to destroy a non-black creature.
Dictate of Erebos : Sacrifice a token to make your opponent sacrificing a creature.
Grave Pact : Sacrifice a token to make your opponent sacrificing a creature.
Lampad of Death's Vigil : Sacrifice a token to make life loss to your opponent.
Bastion of Remembrance : Sacrifice a token to make life loss to your opponent.

4. Bring powerful cards to play by the value gained at step 3 to win the game.

Zombie invasion
Flood the board with zombie tokens.

Army of the Damned , Grave Titan , Tormod, the Desecrator .

By the help of Her Majesty
Defend your Planeswalker by constantly making the opponent sacrificing their creatures and use Liliana’s Ultimate ability to win the game.

Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Contract with the devil
Bring back your opponents creatures from the Grave to kill them with their own minions.

Grave Betrayal

Life drain
Circulating Gray Merchant of Asphodel with Unholy Grotto / Phyrexian Reclamation / Haunted Crossroads or Gravecrawler when Bastion of Remembrance is on the board.

Quidditch!
Deal damage with 10 zombie tokens to win the game.
Strixhaven Stadium

My personal experience is that Aphemia, the Cacophony is not as bad as you think for the first sight. She is cheap, flying, and can create zombies quickly – so these adventages can cause surprise to the opponents. Also it is really interesting to play with so many Enchantments and utilizing them when they are put to the Graveyard. I hope you will have the same experience with her!

Top Ranked	Achieved #24 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #11 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Enchant 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Mono-Black 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.55
Tokens	1/1 B Token Creature Zombie Goblin, Copy Clone, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Human Soldier 1/1 W, On an Adventure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH Decks, EDH, Tabletop Decks