I agree with @RedCheese the only two cards I like are Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver and Empty the Laboratory. They actually excite me. The others...meh... And I also agree that Wonder is easier to work with than Hordewing Skaab and costs nothing. The filter is nice, but still 5 mana.

I've had great success with Tragic Arrogance in my Liesa and Heliod decks. +1

Any thoughts on Corpse Cobble ? It doesn't really fit the initial 2-drop slot as most likely there aren't many creatures on your board, but it could be a cheap evasive replacement creature post combat if a few of your zombies die. Or, toss it in the yard early on and cast it later. Would be great wi...

Added Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx Sevinne's Reclamation Master of Death Haunting Voyage Expedition Map Grimgrin, Corpse-Born Removed Lord of the Accursed Agent of Erebos God-Eternal Oketra Liliana, Dreadhorde General Vindicate a basic land and something else I can't figure out right now. Haven't used Se...

yeti1069 I was thinking your overall CMC (mana value...ugghh) was a bit high at 3.20. What did you end up adding for your Agent and Liliana cuts? All, I've been thinking a bit about what an optimal amount of basics would be for Varina given a few cards that search for them: Land Tax , Archaeomancer...

Training Grounds does not work with Withered Wretch and Lazotep Chancellor since it doesn't reduce the cost below 1 anyways. Lazotep Chancellor I understand now since it's triggered. However, isn't Withered Wretch's ability activated? Seems like you could remove any cards you wanted for free with T...

Training Grounds for 1 blue: 1 zombie for 2 GY cards exiled ( net +1 colorless mana) 2 zombies for 4 GY cards exiled (net +3 colorless) 3 zombies for 6 GY cards exiled (net +5 colorless) Seems great with Varina if you can get non-zombie cards in the yard. Definitely would be better with other cards...

Yeah as I was writing my last response it was almost a train of consciousness dribbling out onto the cyberpage about Deep Analysis. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Your talk of a true 2 card draw from the yard has convinced me that I'd like to try it out. As I mentioned earlier abo...

I think it's ok, but...sorcery speed. Notion Rain was brought up earlier as an option that's in a similar vein being a sorcery. It doesn't have the possibility of drawing from the yard, but it can add to the yard with Surveil 2 allowing you the possibility of digging deeper into your library. I thin...

@Nimbaway Thanks for that code example! My signature is updated now. That's pretty sweet!!

I tried out Search for Azcanta , but only played a couple games with it and only in 1 v 1. It seemed a little slow and more conditional than I wanted, so I took it out for now. I played 1 v 1 last night and played Dihada's Ploy in one game. It was decent. I managed to play it from the graveyard as w...

@Nimbaway Agreed. Thanks for sharing your list. That's clever linking the URL to the color identity symbols. How do you do that?

Got it. I appreciate your insightful comments on this thread. You seem to have a great handle on the game. I've seen your posts in other threads as well. I don't post a lot here or in general, but I read this thread religiously and occasionally chime in more about details such as card x vs card y as...

I'd be curious to see where everyone's decklists are currently at, in particular @yeti1069, @Nimbaway , @Eburon , and @pokken . Here's mine: https://archidekt.com/decks/168607#Varina_Bobina

You've already got some big mana producers in Crypt Ghast, Nykthos, and Cabal Coffers as well as Nirkana (but that's a tough one as it's a high CMC card already). That'll help you get to some of your higher CMC cards quicker. To access Nykthos and Coffers sooner you might consider Expedition Map . Y...

I second Plague of Vermin as well as lowering your curve. I'm not sure what your meta is light, but your deck seems like it would move along pretty slowly with so many high mana value (CMC) cards. I took my deck into a lower curve aristocrats creature recursion vein and using sacrifice with drain &a...

You've convinced me to try out Sword of the Animist . I've pulled one from my Heliod deck that really didn't utilize it well. Congrats on the Rhystic Study too! I've found it to be super super handy in my Varina deck. What are your collective thoughts on Curse of Disturbance ? If you target another ...

Thanks for the Notion Rain suggestion. I didn't actually know it existed. It would definitely work better for Varina than Read the Bones. I also get the point about more draw wanted for Varina (i.e. Painful Truths as opposed to Read the Bones or maybe Notion Rain). Three different colored mana isn't...

Painful Truths vs Read the Bones . I noticed a few of you are trying out Painful Truths, but seems like Read the Bones is more "bird in the hand" and has a greater benefit on average. Best case with Painful Truths you've dug three deep with the three cards you draw, but you have less flex...

As for the actual land count, that is still being worked on. As I mentioned in my thread, as I go through changes I always seem to have more cuts that additions so at one point it just made sense to toss in another land. My sweet spot is 38-39 in most cases but doing so here means I need another 2 ...

One play experience I had recently was in a 1 vs 1 game against Ezuri, Renegade Leader in which I drew a fair number of the basic lands from my library. I'm currently running 9 (5 swamps and 2 of each plains and islands). I got out Land Tax mid game and got to use it a 1.333 times in that I added th...

You guys are great!! Thank you for explaining your experiences and logic behind your card-calls. I've been asking about several specific cards lately as they've all been crossing my mind as either cut or add potentials. I have some reasoning behind my thoughts and some play experience, but more head...

How often have you been able to recur Agent of Erebos to get multiple triggers from it? I'm curious how it fairs compared to Ashiok, Dream Render . I realize that Ashiok isn't a zombie and can't be recurred easily in this deck, but it's cheaper and takes out all your opponents graveyards and helps t...

LOL!!! Oh yeah...

[/quote] I think Recon is significantly better than Dolmen Gate, and would only run the Gate if I found I wanted an effect in addition to Recon, and I've run and dropped Recon without really looking back. Shapeshifters are nice, but they don't come back with most of our reanimation suite, which make...