Zombies !!!
Note : this deck will be incomplete and frequently modified as more cards get spoiled for the eldritch moon set.
How it works ?
The way this zombie deck will work is you will mill yourself to fill your graveyard with zombies (Don't worry they'll be back ;) ). This will be achieved by using cards such as
Epiphany at the Drownyard
Liliana, the Last Hope Gisa and Geralf and
Cryptbreaker
. Once the cards are in the graveyard , you will use either
Relentless Dead
or Gisa and Geralf to retrieve them. Nantuko Husk
+
Relentless Dead
is a very nice combo in the deck allowing you repetitively sacrifice
Relentless Dead
to return zombies every turn !!!.
Diregraf Colossus
is also an amazing card in this deck as it fills your board with zombie tokens as well as getting buffs from the zombies sitting in your graveyard. As you start to retrieve cards from your graveyard you will get an additional creature Prizes Amalgam returning to the battlefield giving you some protection from incoming attacks
What if all of my Relentless dead's and Gisa and Geralf enter my graveyard ??
NO Problem !! all you'll need to do to return them is either use Liliana, Heretical Healer
or
Cemetery Recruitment
.
Cemetery Recruitment
is especially good because it's very efficient as well as being most of the time a 2 for 1 card as it gives you a draw !!
Purpose of each individual card
Cryptbreaker
-- this is one of the best cards in the deck, it fills the graveyard as well as creating zombies on board. This cards second ability also creates card draw so you don't run out of steam
Diregraf Colossus
-- a great card that has a lot of synergy with filling your graveyard up with zombies. the card also creates zombie when you cast a zombie spell.
Fleshbag Marauder -- this card is nice as you can repetitively cast it via Gisa and Geralf or
Relentless Dead
. this means it can deal with creatures with hex proof such as Emrakul, the Promised End.
Gisa and Geralf --- This card is a very important card in the deck as it firstly fills your graveyard which is great for cards like
Diregraf Colossus
. the second ability on the card allows you to cast zombies from your graveyard which is the main purpose of the deck, to let your zombies fall to the graveyard and then retrieve them later.
Nantuko Husk
-- this card is very good in this deck as its synergy with
Relentless Dead
allows you constantly sacrifice relentless dead and return a zombie from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Prized Amalgam-- this card is very nice as it has strong synergy with several cards in this deck such as
Relentless Dead
Gisa and Geralf and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer
. Once this creature enters the graveyard you can technically get it back for 0 mana as once you return another zombie from your graveyard straight to the battlefield Prized Amalgam will join it tapped at the next end step.
Relentless Dead
--- this is the most powerful card in the deck as it allows you to return zombies back to graveyard once it dies.This card synergises with many cards in the deck and is overall the most important card in the deck.
Cemetery Recruitment
-- This card is nice in this deck as it is a 2 for 1. this card allows you to return a creature from your graveyard and if you control a zombie, draw a card. This card is great as it allows you return any creature cards you may need for the deck to work which you cannot retrieve from
Relentless Dead
such as Gisa and Geralf or Lilliana, Heretical Healer. overall this is a great card in the deck.
Languish -- this is good removal for the deck and the counter to mono white humans. As your zombies will soon return back to the battlefield , it will not matter if you put them into your graveyard for now whilst you get the other vital parts for the combo.
Ruinous Path- Great removal for creatures and planeswalker threats.
Compelling Deterrence
-- This is a very nice card as it is most the time a 2 for 1. This card allows you to send a non land permanent back to the owners hand. this card is the counter to the demonic pact deck as you can return it to the owners hand once they use Harmless Offering you can then return it
Demonic Pact
to their hand and win the game.
Epiphany at the Drownyard
-- This card is nice as it easily fills your graveyard up as well as giving you cards to put into your hand so its a win/win situation.
Grasp of Darkness
-- A very nice piece of removal that can get rid of indestructible creatures.
Ultimate Price -- Cheap removal that can take out most things in this meta such as Archangel Avacyn
,
Sylvan Advocate
and others.
Liliana, the Last Hope --- This is a very nice and efficient card for this deck as it allows us to do several things. Firstly it can slow down attacks with her +1 which is up to one target creature gains -2 -1. this is good because the combo of this deck usually takes a while to get online so if we can preserve our health for a couple or rounds it will make the combo much easier and there will be less of a risk of dying. Liliana's -2 is Excellent in this deck as it firstly starts to fill our graveyard up and then may take a creature out of the graveyard and into our hand. Finally Lillian's ultimate is perfect for this deck as it gives us x amount of zombies per turn where x is the amount of zombies we own +2, This is an alternate win condition if filling our graveyard doesnt go to plan.
Purpose of Sideboard Cards
Duress -- This card is nice to bring in if your'e playing against a control deck as it can stop them from taking things from your hand and you can take key components of their deck from their hand early game and not fear them later.
Infinite Obliteration -- This card is nice to bring in if you facing a deck thats based around a single card such as
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
from G/R ramp or Dragon Lord Ojutai from Esper Dragons.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet -- This card is a very nice card to bring in if your facing an Aggro deck as Kalitas has lifelink which allows you stop the small threats from attacking.
Languish - 2 additional copies of languish are in the sideboard so if you are playing against an aggro deck such as mono white humans, you have a higher percentage of drawing one and being able to demolish their board presence.
Negate --- this card is nice if you are facing a combo deck such as Demonic Pact + Harmless Offering
or Tree of Pedition + Triskaidekaphobia as it allows you stop the combo from happening.
Grasp of Darkness
-- 2 additional copies of grasp have been added to the sideboard to fight against aggro decks.
Transgress the Mind This is nice if your'e playing against a control deck as usually you'll be able to take out of their hand any big problems for you such as planeswalkers or the main creatures in their deck.
Liliana, Heretical Healer
--- This is a very nice card in this deck as it allows us to return creatures from the graveyard straight onto the battlefield. her +2 isnt damaging towards us at all as we want to discard and put cards into our graveyard such as Prized Amalgam. Her ultimate has a lot of synergy with a couple of cards such as
Nantuko Husk
, Fleshbag Marauder and others.
Good and bad Match ups ?
as i do not know what decks will be in standard after rotation , i am going to be comparing this decks against decks in this current standard ( Shadows over innistrad)
Aggro 40/60 %
This match up is difficult for this deck to beat but it can still win. The gameplan if you are facing an aggro deck such as Mono White Humans or B/G Aristocrats is that you will want to trade with the creatures as much as you can and not let them have a board state. Trading your creatures is no worry as you will later get them back. After Sideboard you will have the advantage as you can substitute cheap removal spells such as Ultimate Price,Ruinous Path,Languish and the new murder card that will be introduced in eldritch moon. By killing all of their creatures you will make Always Watching useless and then you can start building your board up and win the game. DO NOT TRY AND RACE, this deck will not win the race, you just need to be patient and not allow your opponent to have the privilege of having any creatures alive. Aggro also tends to be removal light so the only real removal threat you have to play around is
Declaration in Stone
so you'll want to be able to kill it so that it goes to your graveyard instead of exile or if the card isnt such an important part of the deck let it become exiled
Ramp 55/45 %
Ramp is a very nice match up for this deck as it gives you to about 6-7 to build up the board before the opponent becomes a threat , this gives you plenty of time to set the decks win condition up and beat the opponent. The only thing you need to be cautious about while playing Ramp decks such as G/R Goggles is that your not in range of being killed by the combo of Fall of the Titans
+
Pyromancer's Goggles
and their big threat such as Ulamog the Ceaselss Hunger so make sure you have a piece of removal to get rid of the threat. I would argue that after sideboard this deck will still have a higher percentage of winning than ramp but be aware that they will most likely bring removal to stop the deck from working.
Control 50/50%This match up is fairly even as you can win against it just as long as you make sure they do not gain complete control of the game. Don't let them have such a high life total and don't let them Exile any of the main cards via cards such as Transgress the Mind or Anguished Unmaking. If there is any planeswalkers try to get rid of them instead of letting them live. After sideboard your'e going to have to bring in more hand distruption such as Duress or Transgress the Mind to stop them from damaging you so much or taking major cards in the deck by using Infinite Obliteration so you need to mulligan until you get some way to deal with those cards. You are at a disadvantage after sideboard but it is still possible to win but your'e gonna have to play good ;)
Combo 60/40%
Combo decks such as Aristocrats and Four colour rites aren't that hard to beat all you have to do is not let them have the main parts of the deck alive such as Nantuko Husk
+
Zulaport Cutthroat
or Brood Monitor + Eldrazi Displacer
. This can be achieved by using removal or just putting constant attacking pressure on them forcing them to block or die. Sideboard removal such as Languish just so you can wipe the whole board and not allow them to have their pieces to the combo. You might also want to bring in Infinite Obliteration to take out one of the main cards in their deck. Don't bring in to much removal tho just enough to get rid of the main threats. Overall you should be fine. G/B delirium is a nice match up for this deck too as it requires your opponent to fill up their graveyard before actually being able to do a significant amount of damage to yourself which means it gives you time to build up your graveyard with zombies. the constant flickering of Fleshbag Marauder entering the battlefield will make Emrakul and
Mindwrack Demon
. Game 2 sideboard in some more removal and take out the
Shambling Goblin
The ideal starting hand.
normally you will want to have at least 1 card that allows you to return zombies from the graveyard
Relentless Dead
, Gisa and Geralf etc. 1-2 cards that fill your graveyard up, 3-4 lands and one piece of removal or card draw. getting a creature such as
Cryptbreaker
in your starting hand is excellent as you can start to discard cards and gain zombies or draw cards. as soon as the creatures enter the battlefield try and kill them off so that you can trigger
Relentless Dead
or Gisa and Geralf.
Tips
Whenever you play
Relentless Dead
try and keep one black mana up just in case of him being removed. If you have another copy in hand , let him die, this fuels your graveyard as well as making
Diregraf Colossus
bigger
You dont need to attack with this deck straight away so you can use
Cryptbreaker
ability a couple of times before needing to attack.
board wipes are fine for you as you can somehow retrieve everything later on.
