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I thoroughly enjoy zombies in Magic: the Gathering...for the most part. One thing that always frustrated me is the lack of attention to inherent ways to return them to play from the graveyard. I mean, that’s the single most ubiquitous characteristic about a zombie—at least in any other medium. Other creatures fare far better at maintaining a common trait. For instance, many, many skeletons have “: Regenerate” printed right on the card, yet most zombies have to rely on extraneous methods of being returned to play from the graveyard. I resolved to give these decaying corpses their day in the sun.

This is my attempt at building a (mostly) tribal zombie deck that capitalizes on their appellative trait, Recursion. The intent is to have a continuous and pervasive board presence, our recrudescent zombies eliciting a furious vexation from our opponent and generally becoming the bane of their existence.

Since we’re in Modern format we thankfully have access to most of the best lands in the game. We run Dimir colors so we’re utilizing the finest / producing lands on offer.

Watery Grave generates either color we need; an ideal Turn 1 play.

Polluted Delta will dredge up any land we run with the exception of Cavern of Souls , and will trigger Fatal Push as well.

•Speaking of Cavern of Souls , we run two copies to help facilitate getting zombies in play. Only two copies ensures decent odds of getting one in play without the risk of interfering with a Turn 1 Thoughtseize or any of our other 1 drop spells.

•A handful of copies of the basic Swamp and Island round out our mana base and are a safeguard against Blood Moon effects.

Thoughtseize will help clear the way for our zombies to hit the ground running, and retains value into the mid and late game scenarios.

•Ah, Counterspell . Deus Ex Machina at its finest. Use this to stifle just about anything before it ever gets to see the light of day.

Fatal Push is exactly the type of removal we want: fast, cheap—and with all the dying and recursion our zombies provide—guaranteed to trigger. Tragic Slip is a viable alternative and might see play in order to sneak around Indestructibility, but for now since Fatal Push is what I have, Fatal Push is what I run.

Village Rites is card draw custom tailored for a deck like this one. Sacrificing a creature isn’t so much a penalty in our deck as it is a matter of course. Go right ahead—throw that Prized Amalgam or Bloodghast in the graveyard and see how long it’ll stay there. Odds are it’ll hit the table the very next turn.

Unearth is a great ace up our sleeve as far as reanimation is concerned. It covers 99% of our creatures and can circumvent certain downsides, like needing to exile 3 creature cards to bring out Skaab Ruinator .

A carefully curated collection of cartilaginous corpses and cadavers is the backbone of this deck. Each rotting carcass comes replete with built in recursion, oftentimes at little or no cost. This, my friends, is how zombies are meant to be played.

Gravecrawler is as perfect a one drop as we could ever ask for. Make no mistake; we’ll be seeing this creature again and again and again.

Bloodghast wrought havoc with my OCD. I desperately wish it was a Vampire Zombie or else a Zombie Spirit, but alas it’s the wedge breaking up a perfect tribal build. Aside from that superficial discrepancy, it fits in perfectly with our theme of recursion. When in doubt, use Bloodghast to attack or as a sacrificial offering. Chances are it’ll manage to make its way back to the battlefield the very next turn.

Relentless Dead is relentless indeed. Depending on how we’re situated for mana, on death this little guy can return itself to our hand and/or a different zombie of our choosing from our graveyard to the battlefield. Be mindful of opportunities to return Skaab Ruinator to play; this outmaneuvers the downside of casting it through traditional means.

Geralf's Messenger deals damage as an ETB trigger, and can come back even stronger after it dies. Once it dies for good, simply cast Unearth to repeat the process anew.

Prized Amalgam has oodles of fellow creatures to ensure it keeps coming back for more. Being able to continuously loop a 3/3 for a one time investment of is a steal.

Skaab Ruinator is our major threat. We run a full 4 copies because a creature as fearsome as a 5/6 flyer is a big Exile magnet. Best to sneak one in quickly to bait the opponent; if it’s Path’d then at least you’ll have 3 in reserve, and if it’s Push’d then remember—we run Unearth . Play a Turn 1 Thoughtseize of yourself into a Turn 2 Unearth and field this behemoth faster than expected, bypassing the ‘exile 3 creature cards’ additional cost. If it manages to stick, then next turn you can commence aerial bombardment.

Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is an alternate finisher that can be slotted in from the sideboard to spice things up. Between all the different ways to bring stuff out of the graveyard, think nothing of sacrificing the whole lot en masse to buff Grimgrin and attack, if an opening presents itself.

•Undermine the opponent’s strategy with discard, removal, or counterspells

•Begin fielding zombies, then attack with Skaab Ruinator leading the charge and win through attrition (or through a massively powerful Grimgrin, Corpse-Born )—returning your undead army to play for little to no cost if and when they die

More countermagic and removal is all we require.

Mana Leak is still a valuable counterspell we may wish to slot in, depending on the matchup

Inquisition of Kozilek offers another excellent discard option

Surgical Extraction pairs nicely with discard spells to eliminate any possibility of a particular card ever resurfacing

Tormod's Crypt for graveyard reliant builds

•I’ve found moderate success in benching Grimgrin, Corpse-Born for the first game, then calling him in for the next. He offers some great utility, and we can sac everything else to charge his Falcon Pawnch to close things out

”And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves...”

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Casual

95% Competitive

Revision 4 See all

(3 years ago)

+1 Desecrated Tomb maybe
Top Ranked
Date added 3 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Modern legal.

Rarity (main - side)

8 - 2 Mythic Rares

26 - 5 Rares

4 - 4 Uncommons

12 - 4 Commons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 1.75
Folders Modern, Modern
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