GISA AND GERALF :GRAVE TIMES

Commander / EDH* Aggro Control Tokens Tribal UB (Dimir) Zombie

Tribalord

Creature (30)

• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Butcher Ghoul
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Corpse Harvester
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Diregraf Ghoul
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born *oversized*
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Hunted Ghoul
• 1x Khabal Ghoul
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Noosegraf Mob
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Sedraxis Alchemist
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Stronghold Assassin
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x Undead Warchief

Land (37)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 7x Island
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 16x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Kindred Discovery
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Rooftop Storm
• 1x Secrets of the Dead
• 1x The Abyss

Instant (5)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Tragic Slip
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Commander (1)

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Kindred Dominance
• 1x Recall
• 1x River's Rebuke
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize

Artifact (8)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Door of Destinies
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance

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Sideboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Walking Desecration
• 1x Withered Wretch

Artifact (2)

• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Skull of Orm

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Gate to Phyrexia
• 1x Haunted Crossroads
• 1x Telepathy

Instant (2)

• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Malicious Affliction

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Bitter Ordeal
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Shrouded Lore

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Maybeboard

Creature (34)

• 1x Ammit Eternal
• 1x Boneknitter
• 1x Braids, Cabal Minion
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Dread Wanderer
• 1x Enclave Cryptologist
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Gempalm Polluter
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Grixis Grimblade
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Lich Lord of Unx
• 1x Loyal Subordinate
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Pilgrim's Eye
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Prized Amalgam
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Returned Reveler
• 1x Risen Executioner
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Soulless One
• 1x Spiteful Returned
• 1x Stitchwing Skaab
• 1x Unbreathing Horde
• 1x Undead Alchemist
• 1x Undercity Informer
• 1x Walking Desecration
• 1x Wight of Precinct Six
• 1x Withered Wretch
• 2x Wonder
• 1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
• 1x Zombie Master

Land (9)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dreadship Reef
• 1x Jwar Isle Refuge
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

Instant (27)

• 1x Cancel
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Cast Down
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dash Hopes
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Dissipate
• 1x Doom Blade
• 1x Forbid
• 1x Gang Up
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Grim Harvest
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Malicious Affliction
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Murder
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Price of Fame
• 1x Psychic Strike
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Slaughter Pact
• 1x Sudden Death
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Vendetta
• 1x Victim of Night

Artifact (13)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Cryptic Gateway
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Phyrexian Vault
• 1x Powder Keg
• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Skull of Orm
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip
• 1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Liliana, the Last Hope

Enchantment (24)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Call to the Grave
• 1x Coastal Piracy
• 1x Cover of Darkness
• 1x Curiosity
• 1x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Curse of Shallow Graves
• 1x Curse of Verbosity
• 1x Deep Freeze
• 1x Dream Halls
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Graf Harvest
• 1x Invoke Prejudice
• 1x Liliana's Mastery
• 1x Military Intelligence
• 1x Necromancer's Stockpile
• 1x Open the Graves
• 1x Ophidian Eye
• 1x Paradox Haze
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip
• 1x Seer's Vision
• 1x Training Grounds

Sorcery (18)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Ashes to Ashes
• 1x Asphyxiate
• 1x Bitter Ordeal
• 1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dark Salvation
• 1x Death Cloud
• 1x Demonic Collusion
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Dread Summons
• 1x Ghoulcaller's Chant
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Phyrexian Tribute
• 1x Shrouded Lore
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Wash Out

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This deck is focused around zombie tribal strategy however it uses stax creature denial to dominate. It is slower than typical stax and therefore made for more of a casual fun format.

Tutor Intuition or Buried Alive to bury Gravecrawler and other zombies depending whats on the battlefield and hand.

The main strategy I use is tutoring Intuition or Buried Alive with Beseech the Queen, Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent, Imperial Seal and Vampiric Tutor.

Entomb is usually for Gravecrawler early game, the zombie-only tutor + land fetcher Corpse Harvester if mana screwed or Sidisi, Undead Vizier for late game combos.

Pretty resilient against creature heavy decks. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Avatar of Woe are good spot removal and in a way so is Sedraxis Alchemist with the added non-creature bounce. Attrition, Dictate of Erebos, and Grave Pact are perfect for eliminating a wide board in a few turns especially when sacrificing Gravecrawler. To add to the stax effects: Smokestack, No Mercy and The Abyss. Fleshbag Marauder is perfect with Gisa and Geralf for eliminating recurring commanders and my preference is to target himself so I can use him again turn after turn when needed. Having Havengul Lich on the field allows you to cast Fleshbag Marauder more than once, triggering token effects while emptying the field. River's Rebuke, Kindred Dominance and Toxic Deluge are our mass removals that can be tutored in for those out of hand situations..

With all this death and creature recasting, Diregraf Colossus can build a formidable army of the dead pretty quickly. Combine that with the lords Cemetery Reaper, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Lord of the Accursed, Lord of the Undead, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Undead Warchief, opponents will have a hard time keeping the board state on check. Ghoulcaller Gisa can take advantage of the increasing power by sacrificing zombie tokens and making even more tokens. Going all in soon after that can end the game pretty quick. If Coat of Arms or Door of Destinies goes unchecked, your army can gain monstrous proportions.

The Scarab God used to be the commander but I felt the god is more gifted in a non-zombie deck. He also draws more attention and can quickly become the archenemy of the board. However, included in the 99 and you can abuse hist first ability by quickly draining life and letting us scrying well into the double digits of our deck to tempo our victory perfectly.

Rooftop Storm... not much has to be said about the havoc this card can ensure with zombie tribal decks. Several loops to take advantage of are using sac outlets and Gravecrawler like infinite mana with Ashnod's Altar / Phyrexian Altar or infinite power with Grimgrin, Corpse-Born. This coupled with the token generation will make your horde numbers unstoppable. Or combo it with removal enchantments mentioned above and the other side of the board should be uninhabited ready for zombie domination.

I included Recall for returning any card you feel attached to that can't be brought back to "undead" life by our commander or lich.

Kindred Discovery and Secrets of the Dead allows for pretty decent card advantage.

I included cards in the sideboard that are direct answers to specific threats.

ADDING/REMOVING

Demonic Collusion -> Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Damnation -> Toxic Deluge

Dreadship Reef -> Watery Grave

Grave Titan -> Noosegraf Mob

Thaumatic Compass   -> Polluted Delta

Scroll Rack -> Phyrexian Altar

Go for the Throat -> Smokestack

Rhystic Study -> Noxious Ghoul

Prized Amalgam -> Carrion Feeder

Invoke Prejudice -> Black Market

Telepathy -> Hunted Ghoul

Black Market -> Talisman of Dominance

Considering these War of the Spark additions:

Dreadhorde Invasion can add a fun element to spawn a zombie token every turn for sac shennanigans. With the lords and artifacts, the zombie tokens can easily become over 6 power to overcome the cost of life for this enchantment.

Eternal Taskmaster would be an amazing addition. It would allow less dependency on the commander for grave recursion and have the added benefit of bringing back non-zombie creatures like Crypt Ghast or Avatar of Woe.

Eternal Skylord is finally a zombie that gives our zombies (tokens only) flying. Depending on the meta, this could be useful.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 5 Rares 18 - 8 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.37
Tokens	Copy Clone, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	BREW COMMANDER