There's no point in having the Adaptive Automaton s when you can have more Cemetery Reaper s in this deck. Zombie Infestation just isn't worth it, replace them with more card:Ghoulcaller's Chant. I would take out all Diabolic Tutor s and replace them with Diregraf Ghoul s, they can help you A LOT more. Dismember isn't really good here, I'd rather have another Doom Blade or something similar, maybe Victim of Night ?

Are you using this as a standard deck or a casual deck, before I make recommendations on replacement cards/additions/changes.

This will be a Standard deck.

Thanks for your feedback, Tian! I can see what you mean; condensing in that direction is definitely cutting some fat. I just love trying to find the synergy between different cards and so many of these seem to feed eachother.

As an addendum: my vision with the Grimoire of the Dead out as soon as possible. I know it's a long strategy in a fast-paced Standard world and, indeed, I have had trouble running this deck's current incarnation against Goblins and direct damage. But there's really not much to do for that except to splash in Blue for counterspells, is there? Also, I liked the idea of being able to sacrifice the big-drop creatures like Grave Titan and Vengeful Pharaoh early to get an easy 2/2 on the field, and being able to call them back later with the Grimoire without having to worry about their mana cost; in turn, freeing me up to counter with spot removal as necessary. Too fancy?

Unless you're running Heartless Summoning to speed you up on the front end, Army of the Damned is really hard to justify. Good thing those tokens are 2/2's and can handle the thump from HS. Might speed you up a little, but you're still looking at a turn 6 win condition...

I saw some comments about using card:Life's Finale, card:Sorin's Vengeance, and Army of the Damned over three turns. Might be fun.

Thanks for commenting, jbuck84! I've only recently heard of Heartless Summoning and am very intrigued at the possibility of speeding up my game. The card does seem custom-made for this kind of deck. I hadn't heard of card:Life's Finale; that does open some very interesting synergy with Grimoire of the Dead .

I've made a few tweaks based on things I've gotten in trade, various fat-cutting, etc. Thanks again for your feedback!

I would drop Diabolic Tutor , Army of the Damned , and Grimoire of the Dead . They're too slow when you compare them to other options.

Adaptive Automaton is a solid pick for a creature.

Start increasing your creature counts to playsets. There's not really a reason to run only 3 Cemetery Reaper s.

Thanks for your feedback, Epochalyptik!

Yeah... repeated playtesting is really proving you right. It's such a shame, because I look at all these cards and see how well they would work together, if not for their mana costs. Weirdly, all the "cooler" zombie cards seem to be four-drops, as reflected in my mana curve.

I do have every intention of running four Cemetery Reaper ; the reason there are three right now is that's the number I have. :P

If I drop the Tutors, the Grimoires and Army, that would open me up to put in some more Endless Ranks and card:Ghoulcaller's Chant which I think compliment the theme of the deck while adding a lot of utility. If I'm going to drop the Grimoires, I might as well get rid of Zombie Infestation too. And, as suggested above, I think the acquisition of Heartless Summoning would do wonders to speed things up. I just don't have any yet.

Is there any standard-legal, mono-black mana ramp? I've been thinking about splashing in some green for that purpose but it feels like it would undermine the deck more than it would help.

Thanks again!

consider adding Sheoldred, Whispering One -- improves board position every turn and combos nicely with Skinrender, Grave Titan, Geralf's Messenger and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

also throwing in a couple Lashwrithe couldn't hurt

Thanks for the suggestions, thorton! I had considered both of those at an earlier time but ruled them out; Sheoldred because I really wanted to use Call to the Grave and Lashwrithe because I just didn't have room. I think you're right about Sheoldred, and while it would be nice to have Lashwrithes in, I'm not sure that anything in particular would be worth taking out. But definitely worth another look. Thanks again!

Hello!

I have a few ideas for you:

Highborn Ghoul really needs to be in this deck.

card:Geralf's Messenger might be tricky to play turn 3 in a dual colour deck.

I think you need to focus on whether this is a slow or fast deck. And try and shape your mana curve so that you get more consistent games.

From the looks of things it seems you would rather play a slower midrange control style to get out the lords.

If you want to use Rooftop Storm , I'd suggest cards like card:Altar's Reap, great synergy with Gravecrawler for early game, keeping your hand full of zombies which you drop when Rooftop Storm is out. Havengul Lich could then to reanimate your graveyard for cheap with Rooftop Storm .

Just a few ideas. Hope they helped!

My Zombie deck: deck:run-of-the-mill-zombies

Cheers,Ix

+1

Thanks Ixios! I like your ideas quite a lot, actually. And I have a few spots opening up as the Scars and M12 blocks rotate out. My major problem - at least in my local meta - has always been speed. And my personal problem has always been focus. :P

I haven't had a problem getting turn-three Messengers, honestly. Adding the dual lands has made a world of difference. But I think your assessment that I'm looking for a midrange style is accurate. I want to be able to hit the ground running in the early game, but still have some powerful tactics in mid- and late-game stages. Is that too ambitious? Haha.

I love the suggestion of card:Altar's Reap. I should really go back through my commons and find stuff like that.

So how about: -2 Cemetery Reaper , -2 Go for the Throat , -2 Doom Blade , -1 Hunted Ghoul // +2 Highborn Ghoul , +3 card:Altar's Reap, +2 Havengul Lich . I feel like I should replace the lost spot removal with Murder , but the deck has been performing so well and I'd hate to bog it down. Though the addition of the Lich with Mikaeus and Grimgrin already in might be too much as it is...

Thanks again! I really like your deck and am heading over to comment there now. :)

If your playing with a lot of fast decks, I'd suggest adding some mass removal like Mutilate or Killing Wave . It'll clear the board for your mid/late game, and any zombie you lose can be just reanimated!

Another route could be Zombie Apocalypse with cards like Zombie Infestation and Forbidden Alchemy . Pump your graveyard with zombies then go so the mass reanimate!

If you wanted to go down the fast route with this deck. I'd remove all the big mana cost cards, make the zombie lords the focus with some removal cards for control.

Cheers,Ix