This is a stab at a neat combo deck my buddy was building. Took ideas from the rwb zombiecannon and tossed a few innovative win cons in.The point of the list is to create an inf sac outlet using Phyrexian Altar and Gravecrawler. This wins the game with Diregraf Captain on the board. The problem is that people love hating Gravecrawler. So in an attempt to protect the little guy the Phyrexian Altar+Carrion Feeder stop exile and Lord of the Undead and Unholy Grotto save him from graveyard hate that exists already for re-animator and such.I will now go over all the individual cards and how they help out along with what I was thinking when I added them. The point of how I laid the list out is so that every card has synergy with at least two different cards that can attempt 2 different win cons. Surgical Extraction the Gravecrawler or Chalice of the Void @ 1 is a pathetic reason to lose imo.
4x Diregraf Captain - His ability to make opponents lose life when casting from the graveyard wins with Phyrexian Altar+Gravecrawler. He also serves to beef up zombies if you end up targeting your opponents hand and Contamination for a midgame lock
4x Gravecrawler - bread and butter of the deck. Protect him at all costs. always keep one in hand if possible and never let all of them goto the graveyard at the same time if you have a choice. He makes the sac combo possible and becomes lethal when your Carrion Feeder finds extra mana. He also makes the Contamination lock easy as pie. It is no Blood Moon, but no one expects it. Also, if you know your opponent isnt going to be able to hate your graveyard than these guys ganging up with a lord or two will do some serious damage.
2x Inquisition of Kozilek - This card helps in all of your worst matchups and also allows you to see their hand in some of the better ones. This makes Cabal Therapy amazingly better and gives you proper information that will lead you towards how your going to use your tutors to win.
4x Aether Vial - This is not fully proven yet, although I think its a great idea. The initial thought was that 22 lands is not always going to yield enough to spam Gravecrawler AND tutor/combo. I tossed it in to make the Diregraf Captain free and un-counterable to allow for a much smoother/sneaky win. This deck already has beef with Blood Moon and Counterbalance so this with the Cavern of Souls help alleviate that a lot. Wipes that smirk off your Force of Will yielding opponents face real fast. Get it to three counters and let it do its magic. This also has synergy with the lords for a fish like feel and it works great with the Unholy Grotto and any sac outlet to recur Geralf's Messenger for sniper style damage. I would love to find room for Lifebane Zombie in the list to hose Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze and their prick friends. I cannot justify taking Contamination out for it however. that card is too deadly in this list and Tarmogoyf isnt much of an issue anyway
0x Contamination - This card wins games straight up. There is a reason why Blood Moon is a 50 dollar card and this does the same thing in this deck. use Geralf's Messenger with an Unholy Grotto or a Gravecrawler with this and swing until you win. It doesn't help against affinity or ant(trust me, the board is loaded with help in that regard), but it does give you a much more efficient win con vs all the other aggressive lists in whatever your meta might be.
0x Extractor Demon - This little guy is sneaky good. You can Entomb him to unearth the sac outlet combo if you dont have Diregraf Captain or if you need to beat some face he can pop in as a 5/5 flyer to help out the lords and their fellow minions. I am not sold on this card yet because it is useless in your hand. I try to avoid those types of situations because consistency is key in lists like this. I also don't run Brainstorms(ill get to that) to shuffle it back and no discard outlet so this could become an open slot for any number of cards(a lord, phantasimal image, Entomb)
0x Phantasmal Image - This is also subject to change. It makes a great lord to push extra damage through when attacking, it makes another captain that can become lethal without the alter, it can be 4 to the face if you found the diregraf messenger. only problem is that is doesn't have synergy with Unholy Grotto. Which I will get into
4x Gitaxian Probe - So damn good. This card was originally Brainstorm for obvious reasons. the Brainstorm draws, it digs if you can crack a Polluted Delta, it protects from Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek/Entomb, it tosses back the second
Phyrexian Alter
, or the lord when you want combo. I digress, Gitaxian Probe is better in this list imo because of three crucial reasons. 1, you already have enough tutors to find one of three phyrexian alters. you also dont need a ton of draw because Gravecrawler keeps coming back for more and cabal therapy is brutal like that. 2, being able to see your opponents hand which make you aware of threats, tells you your best option to win, and allows you to rip your opponents hand to pieces early with a Cabal Therapy combination. 3, it doesn't require blue mana on T1. which is huge. on T1 you should not need to depend on having blue mana. depending on 10 blue sources is begging to be bent over a table and taken advantage of. Don't beat yourself, if your going to lose make your opponent work for it
3x Phyrexian Altar - Not much needs to be said about this. It is a sac outlet and it is the piece that makes inf combo possible using Gravecrawler. I would run two because hitting two of these without Brainstorms reaaaaly sucks. but with three you can use Intuition to fetch it. simply put.
2x Entomb - This is as cost effective as tutors get. It grabs Gravecrawler, Cabal Therapy, or any zombie you want if you have the Unholy Grotto
2x Intuition - This is the only card that can fetch a
Phyrexian Alter
, it also grabs three Grave Crawlers if you know your not going to run into graveyard hate and have a lord in hand, it grabs pieces for Unholy Grotto to pick up, it can grab the Unholy Grotto itself, it can grab a Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth if your not hitting the black mana you need, it can also fetch silver bullets from your sideboard(I will get into).
3x Cabal Therapy - This card can win games on its own if used right with a little luck. Gitaxian Probe gives'em away and this does to town. It can also let you see your opponents hand if your ready to combo off. Its final use is a blind poke at cards like Counterbalance, Chalice of the Void, Infernal Tutor(or Lion's Eye Diamond), Blood Moon(seriously, f*$& that card)
4x Carrion Feeder - This card can do a lot of damage if used right, naturally the Gravecrawler makes him fat fast. he is also a sac outlet to protect the Gravecrawler from Swords to Plowshares and other exile effects(whatever they may be)
1x Death Baron - This is simply a lord. With the Aether Vial it makes your Gravecrawlers quite a bit more deadly. I have it as a one-of because it isnt something your going to need very often.
3x Lord of the Undead - This is a lord, it makes your boys deadly and serves as a 4-6 Unholy Grotto if you dont get one and you plan on encountering graveyard hate. They drop Bojuka Bog, you nab the Gravecrawler back, or Stifle if you boarded. either works
2x Geralf's Messenger - 4 to the face off the bat if you have a sac outlet and another 4 on legs before you rinse and repeat with an Unholy Grotto. I am not 100% that this is as competitive as I would like it to be however. It could be two more lords but I think he works fine for Game 1. I assume he will get sided out alot. only testing will tell. However it is nice to have a sticky zombie for the Gravecrawler.
4x Cavern of Souls - F*$& you Force of Will, Counterbalance, and Chalice of the Void. This is blue mana for the Diregraf Captain too
4x Underground Sea - If i have to explain this than please don't comment. just quit playing card games
4x Polluted Delta - refer to Underground Sea. However I will note that this is better with Brainstorm. Use this to grab basics is your playing something that might slap you around with Wastelands or Blood Moon(I cannot say it enough. F$ that card)
1x Swamp - This is a basic swamp. or snow covered. It really doesn't matter
2x Island - Islands should be banned. but their not so we get to run two(i would have it the other way around but this becomes a basic Underground Sea with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth)
3x Unholy Grotto - This little fellah helps to protect Gravecrawler from graveyard hate, it stops you from getting decked and it tosses Entombed lords and Geralf's Messenger on top of your library.
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - This deck neeeeds black mana baddly. So this card is the only reason I can justify three unholy Grottos. Also makes [polluted delta]]s into Swamps if your not trying to do affinities job for them
Cards not included.
Wasteland - Got beaten by Unholy Grotto, simply put. although I do know how deadly this would be with the Stifles, Contaminations and potential Crucible of Worlds and Back to Basics. I would just rather be able to protect the plan A than have a plan C is all.
Lifebane Zombie - This is insane with Unholy Grottos and Lord of the Undead + Aether Vial. But I feel like this deck has bigger fish to fry. It has a few bad matchups that are in the current meta and they need to be addressed first. So its a Geralf's Messenger instead.
That blue enchantment thing that draws when cards are cast from graveyards - I tried not to depend 100% on Gravecrawler incase the worst happens. So this is a no go because it is dead without him.
Now lets go over the sideboard;
3x Force of Will - Side these in for any deck that is going to be able to counter the
Phyrexian Alter
. Abrupt Decay is a bummer but were going to have to live with that. This also stops Infernal Tutor, Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, Counterbalance, Sensei's Divining Top, another Force of Will(lord knows), Aether Vial, Inquisition of Kozilek/Thoughtseize/Duress
0x Inquisition of Kozilek - This hits any card in affinity, Infernal Tutor/Lion's Eye Diamond, Aether Vial, most goblins, most fish, any Counterspell that isnt Force of Will, Thoughtseize/Duress/Inquisition of Kozilek, Blood Moon, Blood Moon!, Chalice of the Void/Counterbalance, Blood Moon!!!
4x Annul - this hits affinity anything, Blood Moon, Counterbalance/Chalice of the Void, anything stax, Aether Vial, Sensei's Divining Top, did I mentionBlood Moon!?!?, you get it
4x Stifle - this slippery boggle hits fetchlands, Tendrils of Agony, Wasteland, Counterbalance/Chalice of the Void in a pinch, miracles, the Batterskull's germ, you'll find a use for it in 80% of matchups
3x Contamination - If you resolve this lock it is just as cold blooded as Blood Moon. and people don't really expect it(that is because this isnt a competitive deck(yet)tho). It beats nearly everything is lands against that isnt ant, artifact stax or affinity, so naturally it is great in the board.
1x Bojuka Bog - This could really be any graveyard hate. I haven't seen enough action to declare a best yet. This slot could also be a 4th Contamination if it ends up being as deadly as I think it will be(black Blood Moon with strings attached)
Thanks for reading this pile of crap, any ideas or suggestions would be great, otherwise test it out, give it a rip and lemme know what you think. I think this would make a really stealthy meta sniper list so help me jack up the price of a load of random cards(cough cough just-like-Candelabra of Tawnos cough cough)
