but Varina is the only 3-color zombie commander made with the tribe in mind.

Sidisi is not a zombie herself, but she is a zombie tribal commander.

Hey man! I always liked zombies... it was one of my decks when I was growing up and still getting clubbed by my brother in Magic. I have some suggestions:

1. Zombie decks are, by nature, creature-based. Creature-based decks are, by nature, extremely vulnerable to boardwipes. Obviously, I don't know how your specific list plays, but experience tells me that this will be a problem. I suggest considering mass-recursion spells, the best of which for this deck is Patriarch's Bidding . After a boardwipe nukes your board, this card will get it back; or even if you don't get smacked with a Wrath of God , Patriarch's Bidding will reanimate creatures you bin with Varina, Lich Queen .

2. Path to Exile is a touch card to make work in EDH. In formats like this, people are all trying to do high-cost, busted things -- so ramping opponents is often actively dangerous. Additionally, one-for-ones are not the best in a format with three opponents (as having three opponents means you're facing three times as many cards). I suggest you consider things like Reckless Spite or Ashes to Ashes instead of your Path to Exile or Snuff Out , as these are invariably more efficient ways to kill threats.

3. Varina is blue, which means you have access to some of the best cards in the game. Though Ponder and Preordain may not look like much, there's a reason they're super-duper-banned in modern and Ponder is restricted in Vintage. These two give you a level of unparalleled card-selection, meaning marginal opening sevens go from ok to good really fast. Brainstorm is a similar card, though I am more reserved about it do to the potential of getting stuck with two dead cards on top of your deck (' Brainstorm Locked'). With your fetches, like Misty Rainforest or Flooded Strand , Brainstorm becomes very powerful; I advise you run it.

4. Card-advantage is real good in EDH. I realize that Varina, Lich Queen IS a sort of card-advantage herself (most good commanders are), but there's room for more -- especially since, sans other cards like Alhammarret's Archive , she is not card-POSITIVE. I see you're running Gravecrawler . Pairing this sucker with Skullclamp results in instant fun, as having the ability to ': Draw two cards' is kind of dumb. It is worth noting that this does not work if you have lords on the table who pump up the Gravecrawler 's toughness; however, with a sac-outlet like Carrion Feeder out, this problem is solved. Spell-based card advantage can also be very relevant. Painful Truths is a card I've been very impressed with in three-color black decks, and Fact or Fiction 's putting cards in your graveyard seems very synergistic with your Zombie theme.

5. I think you're running too many lands. Outside lands-matter strategies, I don't think most decks want to run more than thirty-two or thirty-three lands. Replacing a few with mana-rocks will speed up your deck, since mana-rocks are not limited by the 'one land-drop per turn' rule and can thus power out fatties faster than just hitting your land-drops would. With that same principle, it becomes evident that two-mana rocks are a lot better than three-mana rocks. I suggest you run a few of the following: Talisman of Hierarchy , Talisman of Progress , Talisman of Dominance , Dimir Signet , Fellwar Stone , Mind Stone , Prismatic Lens , Coldsteel Heart and/or the soon-to-release-and-drop-in-price Arcane Signet .

6. I may be stating the obvious, but if you can, you should include Demonic Tutor . It's like... really good.

Good luck!

Thank you SideBae! I see what you mean in most of your points, though I have a reason for not including most of them:

1. My meta has a bunch of tribal decks (including dragons and dinos, which I don't want to have reanimated), so Patriarch's Bidding will be much more symmetrical. My current plan in case of a boardwipe is to either have drawn a bunch of cards or to use Varina's activated ability to rebuild my board, so not all hope is lost without mass reanimation.
2. I like path and snuff out due to their cheap cost and see Varina zombies as more of an aggro deck akin to a more resilient elfball, so I wanna be dumping zombies onto the field and getting additional attack triggers, not paying a lot of mana to shoot down opponents' things. I haven't been liking Anguished Unmaking for this reason, but its near-universal reach is what's preventing me from taking it out completely.
3. Varina is all the card selection I need. Why play all these cantrips when I could be playing zombies to get attack triggers off of? Just isn't as good.
4. I can definitely see myself needing a skullclamp and will be testing it out. It's a really efficient engine. As for FoF and truths, I would rather have an engine that can draw me many cards over the course of the game, and Varina's card selection is invaluable in finding those pieces.
5. I can see myself cutting a few lands, though I'm not really trying to ramp into anything, just play a bunch of zombies every turn. My overall plan is to get to Varina, after which I'll be able to discard unneeded lands or keep digging for more, so I need enough lands to get to that point.
6. Demonic Tutor is really good, but I just dislike the idea of non-land tutors in commander. Variance is a part of what makes it fun, and tutors take away from that variance a ton.

Spark Double as a copy of your general seems fun! You might also enjoy these: Gleaming Overseer , Bone Miser , Cathars' Crusade

Stormscape Familiar instead of Nightscape Familiar ?

Toss in a Field of the Dead since you have so many different lands already and including a lot of fetchlands. Would add a lot of synergy and act as a strong finisher with the abundance of zombies you'll make