When The Violence Causes Silence - Zombie Prison

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Combo Competitive Group Slug Prison Tokens WUB (Esper) Zombie

mindfulvet

Mana Land (20)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 2x Island
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 2x Plains
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Watery Grave

Recursion (8)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Solemnity
• 1x Stitch Together
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x Victimize

Lords & Buffs (7)

• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Zombie Master

Card Advantage (6)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Library of Leng
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Undead Augur

Ramp & Fuel (13)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Taxation & Theft (9)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Corpse Knight
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x The Meathook Massacre
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Wayward Servant

Tokens (7)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Bone Miser
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Tombstone Stairwell
• 1x Tormod, the Desecrator

Protection & Removal (6)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Commander (1)

Tutor Land (11)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath

Tutors (8)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Unmarked Grave
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Prison & Control (3)

• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Frozen Aether
• 1x Kismet

Other (1)

• 1x Champion of the Perished

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Maybeboard

Other (5)

• 1x Ebondeath, Dracolich
• 1x Necroduality
• 1x Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant
• 1x Ratadrabik of Urborg
• 1x Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Recursion (2)

• 1x Recall
• 1x Tomb Tyrant

Tokens (1)

• 1x Tainted Adversary

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Dedicated to the beautiful and talented Dolores O'Riordan

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Varina, Lich Queen - Original design built on the 8x8 theory and then updated with minor changes, moving more towards a 7x9 instead. Definitely a work in progress, however fairly solid at the moment. Suggestions are welcome.

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The deck was originally built around a typical zombie tribal aggro deck, however it has since been adjusted to have a prison sub-theme to it with a taxation effect.

Phyrexian Altar + Stasis with any sack fodder makes Frozen Aether, Authority of the Consuls & Kismet a perfect fit.

Solemnity + Tombstone Stairwell makes the upkeep cost go away. Spice it up with Corpse Knight, Plague Belcher, Vengeful Dead or Wayward Servant and ping everybody when the tokens die at the end of each turn. Vengeful Dead specifically does this for all zombies, not just yours and Tombstone Stairwell does it's effect on every turn, not just yours, so it's taxing if not dealt with properly.

Archfiend of Ifnir + Varina, Lich Queen makes for a very nice potential board wipe that doesn't hurt you, and gets around hexproof as well. Utilize Bone Miser + Varina, Lich Queen to fuel your battlefield and graveyard, get that much needed mana or filter your the dead cards for new ones.

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Combos and Synergy

1 ~ Infinite Zombies ~ Diregraf Colossus + Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar - Sacrifice Gravecrawler to Phyrexian Altar and then cast Gravecrawler again, netting a token with Diregraf Colossus's trigger.

2 ~ Infinite Group Ping Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Plague Belcher - Sacrifice Gravecrawler to Phyrexian Altar and then cast Gravecrawler again, Plague Belcher causes each opponent to lose one life.

3 ~ Infinite Group Ping & Lifegain Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Wayward Servant - Sacrifice Gravecrawler to Phyrexian Altar and then cast Gravecrawler again, Wayward Servant causes each opponent to lose one life and you to gain one life.

4 ~ Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Vengeful Dead - Sacrifice Gravecrawler to Phyrexian Altar and then cast Gravecrawler again, Vengeful Dead causes each opponent to lose one life.

5 ~ Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Solemnity makes all of our Zombies truly undying by not allowing the +1/+1 counters from Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to be applied.

6 ~ Geralf's Messenger + Solemnity makes Geralf's Messenger undying by not allowing the +1/+1 counters to be applied.

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Potential Mill Combos

Infinite Mill Combos

Altar of Dementia + Geralf's Messenger + Solemnity

Altar of Dementia + Geralf's Mindcrusher + Solemnity

Other Combo Pieces

Use Altar of the Brood to any of the Infinite Trigger combos to add mill or speed up mill.

Use Embalmer's Tools to tap out tokens for targeted mill.

Use Mindcrank to mill in combo with Corpse Knight, Plague Belcher, Vengeful Dead or Wayward Servant triggers.

Use Psychic Corrosion to group mill on Varina, Lich Queen draw triggers

Use Sphinx's Tutelage and/or Teferi's Tutelage to target mill on Varina, Lich Queen draw triggers.

This one is a little dependent on the opponent's milled cards but Corpse Knight + Mindcrank + Undead Alchemist is potentially a game changer. For each creature that gets put into the graveyard from their library, you create a 2/2 Zomboy, this will trigger Corpse Knight as a creature ETB, causing life loss, which will trigger Mindcrank, potentially re-triggering Undead Alchemist.

Looking forward to testing out the MID cards below.

Champion of the Perished - This is a given inclusion, but doesn't really fit any of the categories.

Tainted Adversary - Will test this, may replace Lazotep Chancellor in the Token category.

The Meathook Massacre - This could be an amazing addition, looking like it's going to be great with Tombstone Stairwell - Definitely fits the Taxation & Theft category.

Top Ranked	Achieved #30 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #17 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Combo 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Competitive 4 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Diregraf Colossus + Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Vengeful Dead Geralf's Messenger + Solemnity Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Wayward Servant Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Solemnity Archfiend of Ifnir + Varina, Lich Queen Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Plague Belcher Solemnity + Tombstone Stairwell Phyrexian Altar + Stasis Bone Miser + Varina, Lich Queen Altar of Dementia + Geralf's Mindcrusher + Solemnity Altar of Dementia + Geralf's Messenger + Solemnity Corpse Knight + Mindcrank + Undead Alchemist
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.58
Tokens	Copy Clone, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Haste
Folders	Commander/EDH Decks I've Built, EDH Decks, Amazing Ideas, Deck EDH Examples, Commander, Favorite EDH Decks, Rancid ones, Bookmarked CMDR, New Deck Ideas, Experimental Future