Why no Killing Wave and Bonfire of the Damned ?

Also I really like this deck. It's very close to what I was planing.

I think that killing wave might go on the sideboard, because I like being able to go B: sac any number of creatures, and against tokens, and I'll put bonfire on this list but I don't have any in real life so when I build the deck they probably won't be in it.

Sounds like a good idea but card:Geralf's Messenger+Blood Artist +Killing Wave is very good.

I'm excited for the unannounced RTR Rakdos cards though...

Me too. I loved Desecraion demon, Ultimate price, Dreadbore, and of course Blood crypt!

+1 just for Desecration Demon

Yay!

This deck looks to be way faster than mine, but solid. Have you considered running the hybrid mana 1 and 2 drops for rakdos?

a 1/1 Unleash for 1 or a 2/1 haste for 2

A 1/1 unleash will never be better than a recurring gravecrawler. 'm set on turn 1 plays right now, and knight of nfamy fill sup the two slot for beats. I don't think either of the cards will be useful to my strategy anyway.

+1 for fasterness?

I think even after rotation this deck will be one to beat. I do think B/G zombies is technically better but I don't think its quite as fast as this one and it lacks Bonfire, which as a 1-sided sweeper that goes to your opponents face, is something B/G cannot duplicate.

I have a love/hate relationship with Killing Wave . Talk about sleeper hit! I love how good it is and the strategy needed to make it good but I hate how I don't have the money to truly build a killer deck around it! I often here people talk about casting it for X=0 just to sac their own creatures but I think the better strategy is to go X= the number of creatures you plan on saccing as long as you have out at least 1 Blood Artist . Blood Artist gives you 1 life back for each creature you sac. If you sac 5 creatures you gain five life. If X=5 and you decide no to sac the Artist then you pay 5 life but break even in the end. Your opponent isn't so lucky. They also have to decide how many creatures they want to sac. If they have one they can take 5 or take 1, their choice and both are good for you! Its one of the subtler aspects of Killing Wave that really make it such a good card. It allows you to force your opponent into no-win decisions.

It is very versatile but I am keeping it in the sideboard for both tokens, which is a toughish matchup for me and also because it fails miserably in the mirror match. Plus it is not good enough compared to the other crds I have mainboard.

you had some trouble against my deck:sigardas-army-post-rotation deck it seems if you didnt miracle a bonfire early you didnt win(t3 killing all my dorks). you need something like Pillar of Flame to deal with strangleroot or it hits you early hard

I can play around the geist and then side in Vile Rebirth or Bonfire of the Damned to obliterate it game two. It also provides a pretty constant source of death, and can activate a blood artist 4 times. As for mana dorks, I will be able to get another binfire in as well as just use up my removal on them. If I don't have a 1 drop, not much hurts more than a tragic slip on avacyn's pilgrim.

I feel like Sever the Bloodline would be a great sideboard choice for you

I don't really see where it would be a big deal. Against tokens I have lots of removal and some graveyard hate. Plus tokens is going to be looking a bit more thragtusk and armada wurm-ey without honor of the pure.

Vs other zombie decks. Get rid of that messenger the right way :)

Getting rid of messengers is where Vile Rebirth comes into play. They will obviously make an otherwise bad black or I will so that their messenger will die, then snag it right out from the grave before it returns. Then I get a zombie! Surgical Extraction was so much better, but no use complaining, it kills me too.

Guess we just look at the game in different ways. I've also never made a "zombie" deck

You need answers to Rest in Peace . It will royally hose you in so many ways. it shuts off Blood Artist , Gravecrawler , half of card:Geralf's Messenger, among other things.

Splashing green is a good choice but there aren't really any answers aside from Slaughter Games and by then it's too late.

Rest in Peace is not such a big deal. In any deck that can play it I will be able to beat them down with Knight of Infamy . Plus, my strategy still works for the most part. blood artist can go out, but Gravecrawler becomes Elite Vanguard and card:Geralf's Messenger is still good in half mode. I never had trouble with card:Grafdigger's Cage, though. The fact that this takes up 4 slots in their deck means that it will slow them down almost as much as me. I fear Celestial Purge more than Rest in Peace .

I'm assuming this is a budget decklist considering no 4x Bonfire>Flames of the firebrand. Also I would cut Skirsdag,he has always been janky and is incredibly slow in this deck. I don't know why knight of infamy is mainboard- A 2/1 for 2 that has no synergy with your deck and no advantages against non white. 4x dreadbore>ultimate price. Simply just situational removal vs no situational. I would also consider slitherhead,

I love Skirsdag High Priest . He often wins on his own, and i would like to be able t play the full four. Also, bofire is great, but not only am i nto going to be remotely able to ge four of them, I will still like to play it if I can. I think I can take out ultimate price for dreadbore if the matchup permits, but I don't want to have deadbore be at sorcery speed when I could have instant spee dremoval. I have knight of infamy because if i get no 1 drop, my two drp slot needs some power.

deffinitly not what it will be, B/R you lose slitherhead, troll, jarad(jarads not all that great but still) basically everything thats great about ravnica

You don't LOSE Slitherhead , he's split mana. However you DO lose out on Lotleth Troll .

I still think you are going to get neutered by grave hate and without answers to more than just creatures you are going to have a bad time.

Knight of Infamy is not an adequate answer to a deck running white as almost always they will have an accompying color and he is just a 2/1, 3/2 if he is swinging. RtR provides us all the tools for a tri-color mana base, this means that there will be plenty of ways for decks to stop him.

Lotleth Troll is all fine, but he isn't worth discarding any of my creatures SO what if he couples alright with Gravecrawler ? All of my creatures are vital to how my deck works, that I can't afford to lose so much card advantage to a troll that can be killed very easily with Tragic Slip or a sneaky Restoration Angel . I'd much rather have a diregraf ghoul tapped and a 2/1 troll than 3/2 troll alone.

as for Knight of Infamy , if I am playing against Rest in Peace , then I will need to alter my play style a bit. I can't rely on Blood Artist doing me much good at all, so I have to use something that will. If you have a suggestion for a better one, Lotleth Troll aside, please feel free to tell me and +1 if you like the deck anyway.

I agree. I personally am not that big of a fan of "lol troll". People will be trying to make Delver decks work. People will be running Unsummon until it becomes apparent that Delver really just doesn't cut it anymore. Playing the troll and discarding Gravecrawler to it on turn 2 only to get it bounced sets you back more than just one turn and is completely not worth it. What if you get a hand with a Troll and no Slitherhead or Gravecrawler? As a 2/1 for 1 that requires BG to play sets you back way to far IMO. It's way to conditionally good. Knight or Diregraf are still best in the 2 slot right now.