This is my first deck build after a many-year hiatus. This deck is built with multiple things in mind:
1. Keeping it in standard as long as possible, so I'm only playing SOI and EMN.
2. Only playing Planeswalkers I've pulled from packs to drive the cost down.
3. Easy, fun build for FNM roid-raging zombie spam.
STRATEGY
The key to this deck is milling your own creatures into your graveyard, and drawing into
Gisa and Geralf as soon as possible. In an ideal play, you will want to consistently play zombies directly out of the graveyard with one (or many)
Diregraf Colossus on the board to generate tokens, while
Prized Amalgam plays for free from the graveyard. You will want to push for damage as often, and as early, as you can. Use
Rancid Rats as much as you can early to push damage until their board begins to establish, then keep them back for easy Deathtouch chump blocking.
You will use both Gisa and Geralf and well as Crow of Dark Tidings to force the mill early. Forgotten Creation was an addition to attempt to force either heavy creature discard, or to assist in drawing into combo pieces.
The Ever After is in play to pull both Distended Mindbender and Elder Deep-Fiend out of the graveyard after they get inevitably milled. In a tough spot, you can use it to pull a Gisa and Geralf out of the graveyard to keep the combo alive.
The deck is very light on removal, but the removal it has should help stall their late game if played correctly. Dark Salvation is the most key of the removal pieces. It let me keep Compelling Deterrence as my instants (instead of Murder). It will consistently deal with larger creatures while stacking the board in your favor, which can be detrimental for tempo swing. Collective Brutality is an extremely flexible Sorcery that can be played on the cheap. It can be used to force a discard, prior to casting Compelling Deterrence to limit their discard options and whittle their hand down. It can also be used for small creature removal and burn/heal, at an additional cost of discards which greatly benefits this deck.
Lastly, there are very few late game threats in this deck. But they are resilient and functional. Elder Deep-Fiend should be used to go for an all-in play to protect your vital combo pieces (you'll typicaly hold your combo pieces back as not to lose token generation or graveyard playability). Distended Mindbender is a great mid-game threat to force more opponent discard, as well as putting a significant creature on the board. Both creatures should always be played with their Emerge cost, allowing more creature play from the graveyard. Geralf's Masterpiece has been a wonderfully positive addition to the deck. Due to the low curve of the deck, by the time it can be played you will have spent the vast majority of your hand. You should be able to consistently get it onboard as a 5/5 or higher. Also, you can choose between the discard mechanism it comes equipped with to played it out of the graveyard, or use Gisa and Geralf.
The deck can be played quickly, with lots of low cost, resulting in a spent hand very early. Geier Reach Sanitarium exists solely to add draw in the mid-game. Cryptbreaker also has a beautiful place in this deck. It has flexible early & mid-game abilities, while being a 1-mana 1/1 to play on turn 1. It is also an extremely cheap zombie to play out of the graveyard to activate Prized Amalgam, and depending on how many Diregraf Colossus you have onboard, 1 mana could yield you a 1/1, 3/3 and several tokens. As well as giving you the ability to generate more tokens and draw.
MOVING FORWARD
I could really use some help, since I am very new to this scene, but please keep in mind the 3 rules I have built this deck by. I have very little experience with building a proper sideboard against meta decks (they are running lots of Angel Conrtol and Bant at my FNM).
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
