Working on a new zombie deck and taking a bit of a turn from the aggressive mono black style zombie decks.
We need to keep this deck aggressive, while still keeping a bit of blue feeling to the deck. It needs more answers than mono black, but it can't be too control heavy, otherwise you lose too much time setting up your boardstate.
So far, this deck seems to work quite well. Best of the mono black zombie lists...with some of the pieces cut out and replaced with big guys to get you into the midrange game.
The biggest synergy for this deck is getting out The Scarab God, and using him to reanimate our best target...Noosegraf Mob.
Noosegraf mob is super costly to cast at 6 mana...but we can use Cryptbreaker to discard them from your hand for zombie tokens. Super underrated card that doesn't see any play because of the cost. Once this thing hits the field with Scarab God, it's pretty much game over for the opponent. Everything you cast makes zombies spread like wildfire...think of a more costly Diregraf Collosus that spreads zombies more quickly.
Scarab is costly...but we run 4 copies to ensure that the key piece of this deck gets drawn. You have plenty of 1 drops and 2 drops to fill up the board while you work up to 5 mana. Not to mention, this deck runs a little more removal than your standard Mono Black deck, which helps to stabilize your board and hold off the opponent. Compelling Deterrence in the main can send any Gearhulk packing their bags and throw off most control decks plans for a little bit.
Also we run 1 copy of Hour of Glory. Brand new card that finally allows black to have some answers for indestructable cards. Hold onto it until the time is right and it definitely pays off.
Lord of the Accursed is just a monstrous card for zombies, and can be brought back with Scarab to beef up your zombie horde.
Metallic Mimic is one of the 2 drop powerhouses in the mono black deck...it stays in UB because its great for pumping everything, and coming back as a 4/4 with Scarab just keeps the engine going.
Relentless Dead is hungry for black mana...we cut him to 2 copies because its not crucial to our game plan, however he always seems to get some value in the late game if you draw him.
Gisa and Geralf is another card that works very well in this deck. You need her mill 4 trigger to help fill your graveyard quickly...but we don't wanna go overboard with this card. Keeping her at 2 copies because she isn't a zombie and usually doesn't stay on the field long.
Finally, we all know about Cryptbreaker...he's the powerhouse that feeds the entire deck basically. Don't have to say much about him...just use it to get zombies, draw cards, and recur it with Relentless Dead if you don't draw another one first.
2 copies of Liliana, the Last Hope...great card that allows you to get the Scarab God out of the grave easily...we don't even need her ultimate in this deck...but it's quite useful when you manage to stall your opponent long enough.
2 Fatal Push for some quick removal.
3 Dark Salvation...makes its return from Mono Black Zombies because its a super good card.
3 Compelling Detterence...heres the control card that fits in zombie decks. Super good for just about anything...we don't like Gearhulks or Glorybringers or even Planeswalkers ruining our plans...so just send it back to opponents hand and continue on with the beatdown.
2 Grasps...best black removal in standard.
1 Hour of Glory...the card that will help us beat really tough threats...not really worried about getting a God with this card...but we do need answers for indestructable cards. We've been needing black creature exile for a while now...finally have it at a bit of a cost of 4 mana.
(Cards that didnt quite make the cut):
Dread Wanderer, too slow and we don't need his recursion at all in this deck.
Prized Amalgam, yep its recursive and a great card in its own right, but we don't really need something that requires all this setting up in order to be good. We wanna recur some zombies with Scarab, but getting a few Amalgams back in the process is more difficult than just playing good zombies that win the game. Sad to remove this out of my testing...but its just not worth wasting 4 creature slots for.
Plague Belcher, needs a good home in a zombie deck but just not worth it in this one.
Diregraff Colossus, great card, might even reconsider adding space for it in this deck...but not fast enough at the moment, when we try to fight our way to 5 mana to cast our god.
Curve might be a bit weird at the moment as this is still a work in progress. Keep in mind there may be more zombies that work well which aren't spoiled in Hour of Devastation at the time of brewing this. Hopefully more decent zombies get released. Totally up for feedback however. Lemme know how it works for you guys.
