Cash Money Varina [LCI]

Commander / EDH Control Sacrifice Tokens WUB (Esper) Zombie

StraightFlush172

Lands (35)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dromar's Cavern
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 3x Island
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 3x Plains
• 1x Raffine's Tower
• 1x Sejiri Refuge
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Value (7)

• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
• 1x Wayward Servant
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x Gravespawn Sovereign
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Finishing Stroke (3)

• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Empty the Pits
• 1x Approach of the Second Sun

Control Package (15)

• 1x Lethal Scheme
• 1x Pile On
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Drown in the Loch
• 1x Heliod's Intervention
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Rite of Oblivion
• 1x Tale's End
• 1x Vindicate
• 1x Void Rend
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Draw/Tutor (11)

• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Undead Augur
• 1x Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
• 1x Long-Term Plans
• 1x Toluz, Clever Conductor
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Coastal Piracy
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Hoarding Broodlord
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight

Treasure Package (6)

• 1x Treasure Map  ^Flip
• 1x Ruthless Knave
• 1x Grim Hireling
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Revel in Riches

Commander (1)

Lords of the Dead (12)

• 1x Glory
• 1x Wonder
• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Wand of Orcus
• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Teysa Karlov
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Necromancer's Covenant

Ramp (10)

• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Jhessian Zombies
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sanctum Plowbeast
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Relic of Legends
• 1x Wand of the Worldsoul

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Maybeboard

Other (11)

• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Meticulous Archive
• 1x Shadowy Backstreet
• 1x Undercity Sewers
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Mondrak, Glory Dominus
• 1x See Double
• 1x The Flood of Mars
• 1x Knowledge is Power
• 1x Lorien Revealed
• 1x Troll of Khazad-dum

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A beatdown tokens Varina build aiming to amass Zombie and Treasure tokens and swing for the win with a large control and card draw package. The deck feels part Oloro, Ageless Ascetic control, part Rhys the Redeemed vomit out tokens.

The Lich Queen

Varina, Lich Queen can help us filter through our deck rapidly whilst also applying pressure to our opponents and pad our life total. Given black's tendency to burn through its life total, Varina can help us quite a bit. We can also exile worthless cardboard from our graveyard to fill out our board with 2/2 Zombies which can help us filter even faster.

Rampant Growth (Ramp)

To start with we run the mana rocks such as Sol Ring and Mana Crypt.

Running three colors can stress our mana base quite a lot, so running Chromatic Lantern and Arcane Signet will go a long way. I'm very fond of Relic of Legends as it's a 3 cmc rock at worst, and only goes up from there.

Wand of the Worldsoul gives us a lot of flexibility given that our control package is at instant speed and zombies tend to come in untapped. Also fond of using the Alara landcycling creatures to search for shocks or trilands easily.

Lords of the Dead (Anthems)

In this deck we are filled to the brim with Zombie lords from Wonder, Glory and Teysa Karlov providing keyword soup, to straight up Zombie anthems with Lord of the Undead, Undead Warchief and Death Baron, making our undead Bears far more intimidating.

We also run a few drain effects when zombies flood the board, with Wayward Servant, Throne of the God-Pharaoh and Diregraf Captain.

Undying Horde (Tokens)

To spit out zombies though we rely on a handful of cards including our commander Varina, Lich Queen, as well.

Cemetery Reaper, Wand of Orcus and Ghoulcaller Gisa can regularly spit out tokens, with Cemetery Reaper acting as graveyard hate, Wand of Orcus makes blocks unfavorable and Ghoulcaller Gisa spits out multiple tokens with anthem effects.

Liliana, Dreadhorde General takes us to valuetown, dropping zombies, drawing cards, and sacrificing creatures.

Empty the Pits and Necromancer's Covenant flood the board with tokens.

Anointed Procession is literally 2x the fun, but may be dangerous with cards like Undead Augur, Graveborn Muse and Shepherd of Rot.

Open the Vaults (Treasures)

In order to pay for our undying horde and the control magic behind them, we are also running a treasure package as well.

Grim Hireling gives us cash money for turning sideways

Ruthless Knave and Treasure Map   give us additional card draw at the cost of treasures.

Pitiless Plunderer and Revel in Riches lets us capitalise on board wipes and make some good money.

As we do run white, we are also running Smothering Tithe for incidental ramp as well. Smarter players will opt to pay the {2}, but that gives us room to act without repercussion.

Well Prepared (Card Draw)

One thing I realised when I first played this deck was that without enough card draw, Varina doesn't reload her hand but cycles through it. Although that would be great for a discard or reanimation build, we can't maintain a steady hand filled with disruption.

Almost all of the card draw in the deck is repeatable with cards like Cryptbreaker and Undead Augur giving us consistent amounts of card draw.

Cards like Long-Term Plans is a relatively budget tutor which functions well with Varina, whilst cards such as Diabolic Intent and Hoarding Broodlord follow our game plan.

Toluz, Clever Conductor and Library of Leng allow us to stop burning through our deck too fast.

Mystic Remora acts as incidental card draw since no one really wants to feed the fish.

Graveborn Muse, Windfall and Teferi's Ageless Insight provides massive burst of cards, which will hopefully keep our hand fully stocked for Varina shenanigans.

Cease and Desist (Control)

The control package is loaded with countermagic from Counterspell to Mana Drain, to removal like Vindicate, Void Rend and Supreme Verdict.

Tale's End is a Stifle which also stops commanders, while newer cards such as Lethal Scheme, Pile On and Rite of Oblivion are free real estate.

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria because big Teferi, while Archfiend of Ifnir clears the board just by playing the game.

Finishing Blow (Finishers and Combo Pieces)

We can combo off as well but the deck does not focus around that, otherwise we would run a few tutor effects as well.

Approach of the Second Sun can give us an instant win if we attack with 7 zombies after casting whilst Torment of Hailfire lets us drain our opponents significantly. Both of these are enhanced significantly with Ashnod's Altar.

End step Empty the Pits for a final swing or combined with Wayward Servant can also do a lot of damage.

Revel in Riches gives us the win with all of the cash money we'll be making, especially with all of the death triggers from throwing zombies at people.

Gravespawn Sovereign -> Black Market Connections

Necromancer's Covenant -> The Flood of Mars

Jhessian Zombies -> Lórien Revealed

Sanctum Plowbeast -> Troll of Khazad-dûm

Long-Term Plans -> See Double

Anointed Procession -> Mondrak, Glory Dominus

Hoarding Broodlord -> Knowledge is Power

Sejiri Refuge -> Meticulous Archive

Temple of Silence -> Shadowy Backstreet

Temple of Deceit -> Undercity Sewers

Unclaimed Territory -> Cavern of Souls

Date added	4 years
Last updated	9 months
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.94
Tokens	Copy Clone, Emblem Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH, Maybe