Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
"The best servants are made from those who died without a scratch." —Sidisi, khan of the Sultai
"The best servants are made from those who died without a scratch." —Sidisi, khan of the Sultai
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
I've been a long time tinkering with playing a commander deck centered around the wedge. However, none of the three that existed really tickled my fancy. I had a lot of ideas about graveyard recursion, self milling, drawing, discarding, and doing all of these things to opponents as well. However, I really couldn't do any of that fun stuff with Damia, The Mimeoplasm, or Vorosh. That is until Sidisi was spoiled. Finally, a commander that does so much in one motion! You mill yourself and may produce tokens while you're at it. This is very efficient, and suited my needs almost immediately. Thankfully enough, Khans of Tarkir also provided a lot of new cards that help with this mechanic. The first Ravnica block helps with dregde and the Odyssey block helps with graveyard play. I was finally beginning to see it all come together...
Now, searching the internet I saw some ideas here or there but unlike many other generals with solid strategies and player's attention, Sidisi was almost like a wallflower - flamboyant as she is. So I decided to be the first one to truly break her. To have a fun deck that could be competitive and not have anybody expect it to be. People see Narset, Enlightened Master, Sen Triplets, Child of Alara and cringe. The first reaction at the table being to take them out. However, people see Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and either expect something or don't know what to expect. The thing is, this deck, as predictable as an opponent may think it is, is really not. Many a time have I taken a victory out of nowhere. Then it's too late to react. Ruthlessness. Welcome to the Sultai.
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Commander Analysis
"We appreciate the other clans maintaining their lands until such time as we can subjugate them. Their work will be rewarded when they are jewel-adorned servants in our palaces."
-Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
At first this deck may seem all over the place, and for not being a deck that runs , it's a bit on the chaotic side. This deck runs three (seemingly simultaneous) mechanics: drawing, discarding, dredging. Sidisi, Brood Tyrant's colors allow for a grand plethora of cards which use and abuse these mechanics. Allowing for great versatility, this deck can be piloted as beatdown, milling, or just all around graveyard/hand/library tomfoolery!
Thus, you'll enjoy playing with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant if you:
- want a deck that is not too dependent on your general
- like playing with your hand, library, and graveyard all at once
- like being able to amass a huge army
- like to play with non-linear strategies
- like combo decks
- like playing fatties
- want a deck that's easy to pilot
- want a less combo-oriented build
- like giving ludicrous amounts of commander damage
- don't like constantly shuffling a deck of commander size
Okay, so let's say you're on board with running a EDH deck. Check. Now, why Sidisi, the Brood Tyrant and not one of the incredibly many (less than 10) similarly-colored Legendary Creatures that WotC has been gracious enough to design for us? Okay, that may have been brimming with a bit too much sarcasm. Who knows, maybe we'll get some more in a not too far away future. These commanders are great in their own setting with most of them having a lot of info out there discussing their virtues, deck techs, etc.
- Damia, Sage of Stone has a totally different dynamic than Sidisi. Damia is a brutal card drawing engine but it really doesn't go with Sidisi's strategy of chaos / horde. Damia is more about control and having enough responses in your hands. A Damia deck loves having ramp, counters, tutors, and draw advantage cards in hand. Sidisi doesn't risk running counters or tutors because they'll more than likely get milled away. Sidisi also doesn't like drawing so many cards because most of the time you want those cards in graveyard in the first place since it's cheaper to reanimate them for free than hardcast them. Sidisi's second hand is the graveyard, unlike Damia whose hand is only your actual hand. Basically, Damia makes no zombie tokens, and only basically draws you up to a new hand each turn. You don't want to draw with this deck; you want to loot with it. Damia isn't even considered for one of the 99 due to her ability having nothing to do with the strategy of this deck.
- The Mimeoplasm is a general that loves graveyard play. It can be pretty devastating when combined with milling. However, Sidisi is more focused on moving things in and out of the graveyard more than exiling things from it. The Mimeoplasm is very versatile and I even considered including it as one of the 99, but it really didn't fit the overall strategy of the build. It has no built-in mill, stax, or recursive abilities so it doesn't complement Sidisi.
- Vorosh, the Hunter is all about casting it as fast as possible and killing as fast as possible with commander damage. Vorosh is more suited for voltron type strategies while using your hand and access to in order to have many responses in hand and annoyances in play. Sidisi is not about a single creature entering the red zone but a horde of zombies going for all the brains.
- Tasigur, the Golden Fang is a close second to what we want to accomplish (taking advantage of self-milling). Tasigur lends himself to be a very political general and the goal is not to amass some epic beatdown. Tasigur is more along the lines of control and recursion for spells more so than creatures whereas Sidisi wants to chock in as many creatures as possible. However, a Tasigur player basically wants to limit an opponent's options as to what recover from the graveyard. So it's more graveyard manipulation and spell recovery than it is reanimation or horde, which is what Sidisi is all about. However, after the smoke clears, Tasigur doesn't make any zombie tokens when milling; Sidisi does.
- ( + ) or ( + ) Partners don't really have all that much to offer. Regardless of any combination between the present partner combinations to obtain the wedge, they don't really interact with each other. I don't even consider them for the inclusion in the 99. Even if one were to go with the partner route, you'd have one less card in the rest of your deck.
- Muldrotha, the Gravetide is an even better reanimation commander than The Mimeoplasm. However, this deck is not just about reanimation. This deck also aims to build a large army for offense and defense plus general recursion and reanimation hijinxes. Since Muldrotha does reanimate one type of permanent once per your turn, it is definitively added as one of the 99.
- Yarok, the Desecrated is more for following a strategy similar to Brago, King Eternal or Roon of the Hidden Realm: enter-the-battlefield trigger abuse. A Panharmonicon on a body with relevant keywords like lifelink and deathtouch, Yarok goes the extra mile by also taking other permanents into consideration such as lands (for landfall and "landfall" abilities), enchantments, artifacts, etc. If the deck ran more cards with enter-the-battlefield abilities, Yarok would've gone straight into the deck.
Versus Other Commanders
Now, playing Sidisi, Brood Tyrant obviously has its pros and cons depending on what you're facing. I've been playing this deck for quite some time and have found that there are some clearly beneficial decks to go against and some clearly detrimental decks to go up against. Since I don't feel that it's that black and white since there are some grey areas, I will explain them all in greater detail. For a quick summary as to how your match-ups should go, see below.
How well this deck fares against other EDH archetypes:
Milling
Stax
Mid-range
Aggro
Control
Pillow Fort
Creature Hate
Combo
Graveyard Hate
Milling
Stax
Mid-range
Aggro
Control
Pillow Fort
Creature Hate
Combo
Graveyard Hate
* Stax: Pretty commonplace depending on your meta. The most competitive and ruthless decks out there are total lock and stax. The good thing about stax is that even though it's keeping your horde in check by making you sacrifice so many tokens, you're still only sacrificing tokens until you can find the opportunity to remove that player from the game. The deck doesn't run so many answers against this type of deck but it does have them in the form of Cyclonic Rift and Nullmage Shepherd.
* Mid-range: Depending on the tempo, mid-range could be a pretty epic battle - these are the decks I prefer facing against. Sidisi could get a bit mid-range herself and when that happens it's literally "may the best planeswalker win" type situation. However, no fear should come from facing a mid-range deck since they usually get their wind in their sails mid-game onwards. By then, you should have the same advantage if not more. This is the more neutral type of menace so just play normally against it and try to always be one step ahead.
* Aggro: Depending on how the match goes, these players can be our natural enemies or natural friends. These types of decks hate control and lock players so they usually target them first. If that's the case, tagteam that natural nemesis out of the game and then proceed to see whose horde is superior. If you find yourself against an aggro player early on, the deck should be able to hold its own by popping out tokens as chump blockers until you can get your bearings and hopefully have a superior midgame board set up. This deck doesn't really have ways to amassing life so if you find yourself in the beeping, red-flashing heart-zone, be careful; don't waste resources and do your best to hold on until you're able to go for the game-ending alpha strike.
* Control: Not so much a hindrance so long as the counterspell doesn't exile - even then, Riftsweeper can get things back from exile. When a creature gets countered you can simply recast or reanimate from the graveyard no problem. If the creature gets topdecked even better! A lot of control players think twice before countering any creature you may cast since you can just recover it from the graveyard and they just lost the counter. However, having said that, control players will still be able to counter cards like Buried Alive, Victimize, Intuition, and the like, and that could really slow us down. If you have a control-rich meta, I suggest finding space for Boseiju, Who Shelters All.
* Pillow Fort: Could be annoying by preventing you from going all alpha strike with your horde. However, the same tools used to deal with stax (Cyclonic Rift and Nullmage Shepherd) could also be used to deal with pillowfort. These types of decks tend to force other players to fight each other first but your horde can be used on the defensive as well until you deal with the annoyance of the pillowfort. Also, other players may have their own answers to deal with pillow forts, so sometimes you may be able to save your own resources.
* Creature Hate: These situations are only a real bummer if you have the mother of all hordes out. However, losing your non-token creatures is never a big deal for this deck. There's more than enough ways to reanimate those creatures and most of the time you're storing them in your graveyard anyways. Whenever a player wraths, given enough mana, you can recover practically all your non-token creatures afterwards. If anyone were to wrath with Meren of Clan Nel Toth you'll have more than enough experience counters to get anyone back for free from the graveyard each upkeep. Sheoldred, Whispering One also does this and Havengul Lich can cast any creature directly from the graveyard. So, no worries!
* Combo: Like 99% of other decks, since this deck isn't Tier 1 or even Tier 0, it will fold to higher-tier more cutthroat combo decks that autowin before turn 4. That being said, this deck isn't battlecruiser and it does have its share of responses and disruption in the form of creatures. Granted, it's not chocked full of disruption but then again this deck is run by not paying too much attention to what other players are doing. That being said, the deck has access to blue. If combo is combo is a worry for you, you can swap out some self-milling spells to make space for free counterspells like Pact of Negation, Force of Negation, and Force of Will. This vastly improves your chances against combo. The deck does run Glen Elendra Archmage, Mystic Snake, and Frilled Mystic but that might not be enough for your meta.
* Graveyard Hate: The only real weakness to this deck is graveyard hate. Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, Tormod's Crypt etc. can set us back in such a way that we may not even be able to recover from. At least there are some responses the deck has to deal with such situations (Entombing an Eldrazi titan in response is always good, Nullmage Shepherd to Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void, Riftsweeper can recover from exile even if it is just one card at a time). However, my rule of thumb is: that guy/chick who may exile your cards MUST DIE.
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Deck History
As I mentioned earlier, once I saw Sidisi, Brood Tyrant spoiled I knew I had to build a deck with it. At first the deck was very janky but not in a good way. It was inefficient with what I wanted to do. It was a hodgepodge of self-mill and graveyard shenanigans but nothing useful. I ran cards that would only trigger at the beginning of the upkeep or end of turn but not a lot of activated abilities that self-milled. I was trickling cards into the graveyard and ran bad cards just because they had dredge. It was just terrible and I ended up cutting most of those cards. However, with testing and suggestions from many people I ironed out most of the kinks by running cards that didn't just self-mill but actually did something while self-milling. I also try to maintain a ratio of 1:3 for creature cards in order to maintain the probability of self-milling a creature with Sidisi's triggered ability.
With Sidisi's commander identity including all 3 of the best colors for commander, it was so daunting to test all the good cards for the deck. I've been so devoted to Sidisi, Brood Tyrant that I eventually wound up designing three different decks. The main deck is what I've been most dedicated to but the fruits of my testing has produced two other decks: an extremely budget one and a zombie tribal because, let's face it, people love amassing the mother of all zombie hordes. You'll find them discussed in that order throughout this guide.
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Current Decklist
Here's the Main Build which is the current version I'm running and is the one I've been working on the most. It's intricate to pilot which makes it a lot of fun for people who like complicated decks. It's the one I'll been discussing and analyzing throughout this thread in detail. Thus. this is the version of the deck I will discuss most throughout this guide. Not withstanding, other viable versions are discussed in the Alternate Builds section.
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Budget Decklist
Here's my less competitive, more casual, and über budget build. It's very fun to play in a casual pod. However, it's not a weakling either and can easily win in a casual setting without being too mean. This deck is designed under the impression that it will be in a setting with similar decks. Otherwise, don't use it, lol. If you're starting in commander or don't have that much of a budget and want a kooky, uncommon deck, then this is for you!
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Although budget (I will try my best to keep this up to date in order to keep it well within Budget - the first time I build this budget list Cyclonic Rift was included in it :laugh: ) the list is pretty strong. One key budget combo within it is something I'm very proud of stumbling upon: the Narcomortuary of Dementia Engine. How does this incredibly broken engine work? Like so: sacrifice Narcomoeba to Altar of Dementia. That triggers Mortuary, which goes on the stack after the Altar of Dementia's ability and Narcomoeba's already in graveyard because it's sacrificed to pay for Altar of Dementia's activated ability. Mortuary resolves, sending Narcomoeba to the top of the deck. Altar of Dementia resolves, milling Narcomoeba, thus putting it back into play from the graveyard. This isn't an infinite loop, but you can make it go infinite if you want to. With Sidisi, Brood Tyrant in play you can essentially make infinitely many zombie tokens.
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Card Choice Discussion
A commander deck has 100 cards. Out of which I will explain in greater detail the key interactions between some of the cards. In the mean time, here a list explaining every single card in the deck that is not a mana producing, non-utility land.
Artifacts
- Altar of Dementia - Multipurpose artifact that can net you zombies or mill an opponent you can't defeat by beatdown. Also a major component of the Narcomortuary or Dementia combo, discussed in greater detail in the Budget Build section.
- Embalmer's Tools - It's cheap to cast and provides some insane interactions. You could mill out an opponent or mill yourself at instant speed. The zombies made can then be tapped to continue milling yourself. This gets ridiculous when combined with Seedborn Muse and Mesmeric Orb. If you're milling out an opponent with Undead Alchemist you can keep pushing the mill thanks to the zombie tokens being created.
- Mesmeric Orb - Another all-star in the deck. Used to massively mill opponents and yourself. Each instance is a separate trigger and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant loves that.
- Sol Ring - Standard EDH mana rock.
- Scroll Rack - makes sure that you always have creatures on the top of your deck all the while allowing for card advantage. This card does so many simultaneous things for this deck it's a must-have!
- Thousand-Year Elixir - While not inherently giving your creatures haste, they can at least tap as though they did. Meaning your mana dorks can tap for mana the turn they come into play, creatures with tap abilities can be used the same turn like the untappers (Kiora's Follower, Krosan Restorer, etc.) plus creatures with great abilities like Whisper and Vannifar.
Creatures
- Aphetto Alchemist - Along with Mesmeric Orb in play can go infinite. Still useful even in the absence of Mesmeric Orb as it can untap a mana rock or a utility creature (Hell's Caretaker, Krosan Restorer, Kiora's Follower, etc.).
- Birds of Paradise - Arguably one of the greatest mana dorks of all time, a T1 birds really helps with mana fixing and early commander casting. Additionally, it's the only 1-drop creature in the deck, which is something that Vannifar cares about if you're gonna chain into larger creatures from a zombie token or Dryad Arbor.
- Bloom Tender - At worst, this mana dork taps for . At best, . The good thing about being able to tap it for is that an untapper like Kiora's Follower or Aphetto Alchemist can really net you a considerable amount of mana. Even if you cast this T2 with nothing else in play, it can still help you cast a T3 Sidisi.
- Body Double - Treated like a reanimation spell on a body. If you have a key creature in your graveyard then Body Double can enter the battlefield as a copy of it. If Craterhoof Behemoth is such a creature, then Body Double can enter the battlefield as a copy of it and you still benefit from the enter the battlefield trigger.
- Clever Impersonator - This card alone is a toolbox. You can basically copy any non-land permanent an opponent controls or anyone you own. It can become a planeswalker or copy your Doubling Season. I love doing that.
- Craterhoof Behemoth - What is there left to say about Craterhoof Behemoth? If this enters play with even a semi-large horde and you just won the match.
- Death Baron - Tribal pump; +1/+1 and deathtouch is no joke.
- Diregraf Captain - Tribal pump and you could potentially kill an opponent when your zombies die.
- Doom Whisperer - On it's own a 6/6 flying trampler for is no joke. Add to that fact by being able to surveil 2 for just 2 life is beyond amazing. As long as you have the life you can self-mill for days. Topdeck filtering plus zombie creation and graveyard filling is an amazing ability on a body.
- Dryad Arbor - A land that's fetchable while providing a body for self-milling. It can be recovered and recurred in many different ways.
- Eternal Witness - This card is a must in any EDH deck running . What makes it epic in this build is getting Gempalm Polluter back into your hand.
- Filth - A major component of the deck. This in the graveyard along with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play this makes all your creatures unblockable.
- Frilled Mystic - A counterspell on a body is crucial in a deck like this. You want to keep the creature count as high as possible but you need answers. Although a bit more unconfortable to cast than Mystic Snake, it does the same thing at the same CMC.
- The Gitrog Monster Can net you some cards if you sel-mill a land just as when you sacrifice a land. You have to sacrifice a land during your upkeep but its stats and deathtouch is nothing to scoff at, either. You're also able to play an additional land which goes great with Life from the Loam.
- Glen Elendra Archmage - Replaced Jace, Memory Adept since he just wasn't cutting it. Only self-milling for 10 a turn isn't really doing much. The faerie, however, can help deal with an unwanted board wipe, overloaded Cyclonic Rift, or any of the various non-creature spells that can exile my graveyard. Best swap I've made yet.
- Gurmag Drowner - A creature replacement for Forbidden Alchemy. Slowly but surely I'm trying to keep this deck as creature-heavy as possible and this guy really helps achieve that.
- Havengul Lich - This card is too broken for words. You can cast creatures from your graveyard, also known as your second hand, and it will obtain the activated ability of whatever you cast. Casting Krosan Restorer, Kiora's Follower, etc. has helped me get that extra boost needed many times.
- Kiora's Follower - Very useful tool in the toolbox. It can untap creatures like Krosan Restorer or Hell's Caretaker and it can untap lands like Gaea's Cradle and Cabal Coffers.
- Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Was in the original version along with Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Gaea's Blessing. However, having all three in the deck was more of a hindrance than helpful. So I took this one out. I should've taken out Gaea's Blessing for not being a creature and only being useful when milled. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth just like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, can be Entombed, sacrificed, or discarded to protect your graveyard.
- Krosan Restorer - I love this card. During games I have constantly untapped Gaea's Cradle, Cabal Coffers, and Deserted Temple.
- Lazav, the Multifarious - What an amazing card! For a casting cost of just not only does it surveil when it enters the battlefield, but it can also copy any creature card in the graveyard for . It's ridiculous! It's practically reanimation at instant speed!
- Muldrotha, the Gravetide - I could cast play any card type from my graveyard during my turn. So if I need to cast a planeswalker, instant, sorcery, etc. directly from my graveyard I'll be able to. Having Muldrotha means not worrying too much about recurring noncreature spells - especially since Muldrotha is a creature, the card type this deck excels at recurring.
- Mystic Snake - Similar in function to Frilled Mystic, this deck needs answers but it also needs bodies. This creature checks both boxes.
- Nullmage Shepherd - This card is too useful for protecting against the only weakness of the deck: graveyard hate. This card helps destroy Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, etc. Even then, it can also get rid of those pesky pillow forts that can somehow be a problem.
- Prime Speaker Vannifar - Where to even begin... This is Birthing Pod on a body. B-Pod chains aren't that difficult to accomplish in this deck and without much effort you could essentially chain from a zombie token into Craterhoof Behemoth in the same turn. Not only that, but you could also chain into key creatures like Eternal Witness or Riftsweeper. She suffers from the same timing restrictions as Birthing Pod, but the versatility is still there. So much so that without much alterations, she could easily be the secret commander of the deck or at the very least a partner not in the command zone.
- Protean Hulk - A card I've taken out and put back in a dozen times. However, with the inclusion of Prime Speaker Vannifar, it's gonna stay in the deck. Additionally, running Whisper, Blood Liturgist and other sacrifice outlets makes it easier to work with. Also, more low-costed creatures have been added that can make it worthwhile to include.
- Razaketh, the Foulblooded - Another tutor on a body. Although dissimilar to Sidisi, Undead Vizier and Rune-Scarred Demon since its ability isn't triggered when it enters the battlefield, it is easier to control since it's an activated ability. Sacrifice a creature you want to recur later on or a zombie token and get access to any card in your deck. Amazing!
- Riftsweeper - In case important pieces do get exiled, this is very important to recover them.
- Rune-Scarred Demon - A Demonic Tutor on a fat flyer, this will trigger Sidisi when self-milled but when entering play will help me tutor for anything. Just as clutch as Sidisi, Undead Vizier.
- The Scarab God|Hour of Devastation - It not only functions as a possible wincon, but it's pretty much unkillable. Also, the Zombie Build mills opponents as well with Undead Alchemist. The means that you can also exile creatures from opponents' graveyards to "copy" them as zombies, no less! This is definitely an amazing card.
- Seedborn Muse - This card is extremely useful. With Mesmeric Orb in play, you can tap all your lands during each turn and then at the beginning of each next turn, each one triggers Mesmeric Orb. Not only that, but you can attack to your heart's delight because you can then have untapped blockers for your opponents' turns.
- Sidisi, Undead Vizier - A tutor on a body that also provides a sac outlet. Pretty self-explanatory.
- Turntimber Sower - Similar to The Gitrog Monster's trigger, you get a chump blocker for your effort. However, the real deal-sealer for this creature is its ability to trade creatures for lands. Using that ability before an epic Living Death is one of the reasons why this creature made it so quickly into the deck.
- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Just as with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog prevents self-milling and also potentially protects your graveyard at instant speed. Too important to the deck.
- Underrealm Lich - Similar to Taigam, Sidisi's Hand but better. It has the same converted mana cost, you don't lose your draw, you can still trigger self-milling effects, and it can become an indestructible chump blocker in case of emergencies. Oh, and it's also a zombie.
- Voyaging Satyr - For just it's a great way to get mana acceleration early game and a great way to untap Gaea's Cradle and its ilk as well as utility lands.
- Whisper, Blood Liturgist - Recursion and sac outlet all in one. It puts a creature directly into play from the graveyard. The ability can be repeated with creature untappers in play.
- World Shaper - This creature has Sidisi, Brood Tyrant's ability and Splendid Reclamation all on the same body. Attack to self-mill and if it dies you recover all your lands. This also works as a deterrent for your opponents wanting to block it. Additionally, you can simply sacrifice it and recover your lands.
Enchantments
- Intruder Alarm - Added more so to complement Prime Speaker Vannifar, it still synergizes pretty well with the deck. Combined with cards like Embalmer's Tools allows you to tap zombies until you self-mill a creature. With Sidisi in play you get a zombie token which will untap all of your other creatures. This includes mana dorks and utility creatures that tap. If you're untapping lands with Kiora's Follower or Krosan Restorer then things can get out of hand pretty easily.
- Mortuary - Love this card. Where some see a hindrance because it may "deny" you turns and drawing, I see a way to get creatures on the top of your library, where Sidisi loves having them. It's also the third component of the Narcomortuary of Dementia combo.
- Opposition - When all else fails, you can use this along with your zombies (or other creatures) to tap out the board and swing unopposed (thus the name of the card, I think? lol).
- Path of Discover - The amount of interactions with this card is bonkers. The creature pump with the +1/+1 counter isn't even that relevant. It just synergizes so well with the deck. A zombie token that explores a creature from the top of the deck can create another zombie token with Sidisi in play and you could potentially continue chaining this process.
Spells
- Assassin's Trophy - Although not on a body, the usefulness of this card can't go unnoticed. It gets rid of any problematic permanent at instant speed. It suffers from being an instant, which isn't easily recurrable with the deck, but with Eternal Witness you can recover it (or shuffling it into the library with an Eldrazi titan and then tutoring for it with Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Rune-Scarred Demon, or Razaketh, the Fouldblooded.
- Bond of Insight - Self-mills for 4 and is able to recover up to two instant and/or sorcery cards from the graveyard which are the hardest cards to recur in the deck.
- Buried Alive - A triple Entomb at sorcery speed. Favorite targets? Filth and anything else you'd need reanimating.
- Cyclonic Rift - This card was broken in standard and is even more so in multiplayer EDH. This card helps clear the field for your horde for a mere .
- Entomb - Tutors directly to your graveyard - at instant speed. This card is amazing at protecting your graveyard as well. In response to having it exiled, just cast this and search for either Kozilek, Butcher of Truth or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre.
- Fact or Fiction - considered one of the most broken cards when it came out, here it's even more broken. Regardless of what happens, it's going to be in your favor since your graveyard is an extension of your hand. And if creatures are in the pile that goes to the graveyard, it still triggers Sidisi. Love this card.
- Final Parting - Similar to Jarad's Orders except that you can choose any two cards. This means that this card alone enables the Filth + Urborg combo. Just send Filth to the graveyard and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to your hand.
- Intuition - You can never go wrong with what you choose with Intuition. Your opponents will learn to hate this card. It basically becomes a Gifts Ungiven. What I love choosing with this: Filth, Genesis, and Life from the Loam. Win/win/win.
- Jarad's Orders - Another broken card in this deck. Tutor a creature for your hand and then tutor one for the graveyard. You guessed it, I love tutoring for Filth. The ideal choices for Jarad's Orders are Filth to go the graveyard and Sidisi, Undead Vizier to go to your hand. Then you can just use Sidisi, Undead Vizier to fetch for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and you're set!
- Life from the Loam - One of the best cards in the deck. Self-mills and you recover any lands in your graveyard. I love this card. every time I draw it or it's milled I can't contain my glee.
- Living Death - This card is amazing but be careful when casting. It basically trades creatures in play for those in the graveyard. However, when used at appropriate situations it's glorious. I don't use it all the time because an opponent can discard an epic creature in response, but it's still a good card to run.
- Voidslime - As with Assassin's Trophy, the deck needs answers. The deck runs a couple of counterspells on a stick but they aren't enough if an opponent drops a Bojuka Bog. Granted, this is probably the only card in the deck that can deal with a Bojuka Bog trigger, but it can also help against planeswalkers going ultimate, actually countering a spell like Rest in Peace, dealing with the activation of Scavenger Grounds, etc.
Planeswalkers
- Kiora, Master of the Depths - Loved this card since the moment it was spoiled. It proved to be even more broken in practice than in theory. <+1> and I untap a creature and a land. <-2> and it's a self-mill where I can choose to keep a land and/or creature for my hand instead. <-8> and I get a broken emblem; all my zombies become bombs.
- Liliana, Death's Majesty - All three abilities are pertinent. The first one self-mills and gives you a zombie token, the second one reanimates, and her ultimate more likely than not hurts opponents way more than us.
- Tamiyo, Collector of Tales - The static ability is nice but not that necessary in this deck. The other abilities are great and very synergistic with Sidisi, though. You can try and mise through the first 4 cards and if all else you're gonna self-mill them. The \-3/ ability is Regrowth, which is great in this deck because you could recover an instant or sorcery to your hand (since all other permanents are easier to recover from the graveyard).
Lands
- Cabal Coffers - Admittingly, it's useless without Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or at least with Chromatic Lantern. However, when the combo is out, the amount of produced is ridiculous.
- Deserted Temple - Worst case scenario it taps for . However, this helps give more value to Gaea's Cradle, Cabal Coffers, Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
- Gaea's Cradle - One of the best lands in the deck; the amount of produced is ridiculous. Useless without a creature in play, which hardly ever happens though.
- Minamo, School at Water's Edge - Enters the battlefield untapped and provides when tapped. It can also serve to untap Gaea's Cradle, which makes it strictly better than an Island.
- Sequestered Stash - Serves to self-mill but can also top-deck an artifact that's stuck in the graveyard. I would rather have it in my hand, but it's a great ability on a land, so one can't really complain.
- Thespian's Stage - Another EDH staple. Copy someone's utility land or even copy your own double-mana lands or Cabal Coffers.
- Tolaria West - Land tutor that's also a land means that it's recurrable with Life from the Loam. And, when you're done with it, you still have a land that taps for .
- Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Obviously one of the most important lands in the deck. With this and Filth in the graveyard, your horde is ultimately unblockable. Also helps non mana producing utility lands at least produce when tapped.
- Volrath's Stronghold - Recursion to the top of the deck. Useful to Sidisi and also to recover a creature from the graveyard.
Fetchlands: - Bloodstained Mire
- Flooded Strand
- Misty Rainforest
- Polluted Delta
- Verdant Catacombs
- Windswept Heath
Lands Just for the Mana: - Bayou
- Breeding Pool
- City of Brass
- Command Tower
- Llanowar Wastes
- Mana Confluence
- Morphic Pool
- Opulent Palace
- Overgrown Tomb
- Reflecting Pool
- Tropical Island
- Underground River
- Underground Sea
- Watery Grave
- Yavimaya Coast
Basic Lands (2 of each - just in case):
Basic lands are helpful when being hit by Ghost Quarter, Path to Exile, Assassin's Trophy, and the like. They're also good targets for the fetchlands once you already got all of the dual-typed lands in play.
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Deck Philosophy
The main point of the deck is to have fun. The deck is very intricate and I've designed it so that all of its parts are as synergistic as possible. This is a double-edged sword though since it's incredibly difficult to make cuts in the deck in order to add new cards that can further enhance it. Whenever possible I will try to update the decklists with any new cards that I've tested and found to be worth a slot.
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Deck Strategy
The main strategy of the deck is to try and get as many 2/2 Zombie creature tokens in play and go for the horde approach. All the drawing and the milling and discarding is done in order to speed up the deck and get the army as pumped up as possible. This is accomplished by getting Filth in the graveyard and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play. This feat pretty much makes your horde unblockable and is very easy to accomplish (Final Parting accomplishes this feat on its own). There are many quasi-infinitely recurring engines that allows you to amass a brutal horde to take out all opponents at once. This is the main strategy for all versions of the deck I discuss this guide.
One thing I'd like to once more point out (as previously mentioned) is Prime Speaker Vannifar. Though not a main player in the deck, if you're able to get her online, the deck becomes even more dangerous. You can use Prime Speaker Vannifar to Birthing Pod chain all the way into Craterhoof Behemoth. Even without Intruder Alarm in play you can untap Vannifar using many cards like Kiora's Follower, Aphetto Alchemist, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, etc. And even then, assuming you can't get huge chains, she's still useful to eventually cheat utility creatures into play from the deck. In that sense she's on par with Razaketh, the Foulblooded.
Mulligans
You want anywhere between 3-4 lands in order to play Sidisi as quickly as possible. As soon as you can start milling and amassing tokens the better you will be. You will have a menacing board presence, but if you're playing in a competitive setting you won't be the only one. You also want some cheap utility creatures you can play in order to attract removal from players who like wasting removal early game against things that aren't as deadly as mid-game creatures. Another thing, there are cards you do not want in your opening hand. If you draw Kozilek, Butcher of Truth or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, mulligan those away because one of their main uses it to prevent milling yourself. They like to be inside of the library. Keep anything you can use to self-mill in order to make early tokens after Sidisi is cast the first time. Also, try to keep you hand as light as possible; those fatties are usually reanimated for free from the graveyard anyways. Personally, my EDH philosophy is not so much what to want in your starting hand more than what to not want. Honestly, as long as you're able to cast stuff without mana screw or color screw you should be fine. I don't want people to ceaselessly mulligan away searching for "critical" pieces. This deck burns through your library so you're bound to get them. An idea of what to keep in your hand are cheap spells somewhere in the vein of Sol Ring, Aphetto Alchemist, Kiora's Follower, Krosan Restorer, Satyr Wayfinder, Voyaging Satyr, and other similar cheap spells that can be used right away. Again, just mulligan away any fatties and make sure your hand has enough lands or ways to cast Sidisi.
Early Game Strategy
You want to try and get Sidisi out as quickly as possible in order to capitalize on her token producing ability. It's quite the bummer to cast cards that mill through top cards to get choice cards without having Sidisi in play. So after she's in play, you're able to use Buried Alive, Intuition, Fact or Fiction, etc. much more efficiently than simply casting them. Given their amount and the laws of probability, you'll more than likely have some mana acceleration cards, cheap utility creatures, and ways to enhance your horde. This stage of building your field is just dropping cheap cards until mid-game can happen. Remember also that by now, you should be able to determine the strategies of most of your opponents so whoever you see that has an anti-graveyard agenda has got to go. If anything, start building your strategy to getting those key components needed to eventually deal with those anti-graveyard spells and permanents. So start digging for Nullmage Shepherd, Riftsweeper, Cyclonic Rift, Glen Elendra Archmage, etc. Again, make sure the person running possible graveyard hate is eliminated first. Graveyard hate can come from many colors so don't fret simply because of the opponent. Keep in mind though that graveyard hate exists primarily in and (though there are cards in other colors and colorless as well like Relic of Progenitus and Scavenger Grounds).
Mid-Game Strategy
This deck aims to be as quick as possible so if you're lucky you may reach mid game by turn 5-7. This is the most important phase of the deck since the deck requires a lot of mana. Things you should be aiming to get in your graveyard by this time: Filth. Things you want to have in play by this time: Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. This should be easy to accomplish with all the milling and recursion going around. Filth is the #1 Buried Alive target (and any "tutor" that sends to graveyard like Intuition, Jarad's Orders, etc.). Another thing to note about having a large graveyard by this point is forgetting you have Vengeful Pharaoh there. Don't! Opponents surely do when they go for an attack. Always keep him in mind. You can also tutor for these pieces with Final Parting, Intuition, Rune-Scarred Demon, or Sidisi, Undead Vizier. The best thing you can have in play is Mesmeric Orb. Be aware as this can make you an instant target. It seriously hurts all opponents and really helps you. This is the most important phase of the deck since you should've been burning through a lot of your deck by now in order to obtain these cards. If you haven't gotten them by then, don't worry, as you can still chump block or have other cards that could be useful. If other cards or combo pieces have been destroyed or exiled, remember that there are still ways to recover them such as Riftsweeper, Havengul Lich, Eternal Witness, etc.
Late-Game
Very viable by turn 10. You should have an army of tokens and/or utility creatures in play. All of them unblockable thanks to Filth+Urborg#2 combo. You can easily take out 1-2 players with an unblockable horde and/or other methods. A wave of unblockables usually takes out one player in one instance. However, with Craterhoof Behemoth and the zombie lords, you should be able to clear house in one fell swoop. You can also take out another opponent by milling him/her. Many a time have I attacked one player with all creatures and then sacrificed them to Altar of Dementia to deck another player.
End-Game
There are many decks that can win by turns 2-3 (even decks that win turn 0). Unfortunately, this isn't one of those decks. Fortunately, the deck is very unassuming and people don't really know what you're ultimately doing until it's too late. The deck has a lot of other tricks up its sleeve that helps get the job done. This is also a deck for those that don't mind games that last between 1-2 hours. When left unchecked, I'm usually able to win before the hour mark. However, in games with decks in the same neighborhood of level, games have lasted between 1-2 hours. If your meta is very strong, you'll possibly be ignored until other more problematic players are gone. If you're the strongest deck at the table, be very prepared to defend yourself and have a very exciting uphill battle!
Just remember that the game is basically over the moment you have the Filth+Urborg combo, you amassed a major horde with self-milling or other zombie generation due to the looting, Mesmeric Orb, or other ways. The whole point is to burn through the deck in order to get one of the wincons. The most consistent wincon is alpha strike with a bunch of zombies. Again, beware the graveyard hate player.
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Credit & Thanks
I have various people to thank for this guide being the way it is. Most of them are from MTGSalvation and Cockatrice. In no particular order:
- Gareth_Trent: recommending Gaea's Blessing and the Eldrazi Titans to avoid decking myself.
- Naugh-Tay: recommending the cards that would eventually compose the Mesmeric Orb Suite.
- Draznar: recommending some key cards like Sudden Reclamation, Deadbridge Chant, and others.
- Jaxs334: recommending some key cards like Dowsing Shaman (used in budget version) and Hell's Caretaker.
- PenguinPete: inspiring taking advantage of my creatures dying to hinder opponents.
- Ghaespar: helping to inspire the budget build.
- Jayron and AshrielX: inspiring me to make alternate versions of the budget version.
- Gren08: interaction between Gravecrawler and Phyrexian Altar.
- osieorb18: guiding me on making the guide more legit.
- darrenhabib: helping me incorporate Prime Speaker Vannifar in the deck.
- Feyd_Ruin: helping me with formatting this guide.
- benjameenbear: the primer template I literally just copy/pasted to make this one.
- all the Cockatrice players who've been making suggestions and observations ever since I've been playing this deck online way back since the beginning of its conception (particularly users 359763432 and Gidix).
- The MTGSalvation EDH Primer Committee for both helping me shape this into the guide it is, with formatting, etc. For anyone interested in seeing that version of this guide, follow this link.
- And all of you reading for your interest, curiosity, suggestions, and attention!
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Change Log
I will try and keep a record of all the major changes to the guide in this section. Not every change to the deck will be recorded. For example, swapping a couple of cards might not be recorded unless they considerably change the strategy or synergy in the deck.
9/12/2014
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Original, horrible version
10/31/14
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Almost total change from what I was previously doing with the deck to what it is now. It went from being what is described in the alternate build to what is being described in this thread. The way that deck worked was with looters and dredge. What would happen is, when you'd draw, you'd dredge. Then, when you had to discard, you'd simple discard what you just dredged. For example:
Activate Merfolk Looter. Instead of drawing, use Golgari Grave-Troll's dredge ability, getting you some self-mill. Then, when you had to discard, you just discarded Golgari Grave-Troll. It seemed amazing in theory but ended up being slow in practice. Trust me, I tried to make that concept work and ended up eliminating all the looters and all the dredgers except for Life from the Loam.
Activate Merfolk Looter. Instead of drawing, use Golgari Grave-Troll's dredge ability, getting you some self-mill. Then, when you had to discard, you just discarded Golgari Grave-Troll. It seemed amazing in theory but ended up being slow in practice. Trust me, I tried to make that concept work and ended up eliminating all the looters and all the dredgers except for Life from the Loam.
11/7/2014
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The cards removed were due to them performing inefficiently. The looters were all used in order to take advantage of dredge. Draw but instead of getting a card, you would dredge. And then, when you had to discard something, you'd discard the card with dredge. It sounded good on paper but wasn't performing as well as it should've. It was no where near as polished and I wanted. It was klanky and not in a good way.
Also, the cards that milled too many cards were removed because the graveyard would constantly get shuffled back into the deck, providing no usefulness whatsoever. Mirror-Mad Phantasm was more trouble than it was worth.
The cards for drawing massive amounts of lands were also a hindrance. I would've rather had most of those cards in the graveyard than in my hand. Also, drawing cards doesn't trigger Sidisi.
Specifically,
- Immobilizing Ink was a discard outlet and untapper all in one. However, it was too slow and klanky.
- Stitcher Geralf self milled, exiled creatures from graveyards, and put a very large zombie in play. However, also proved to be too slow.
- Sultai Ascendancy was too slow and inneficient at self-milling and now other purpose besides self-milling.
- Millikan, Deranged Assistant, and Charmed Pendant were self-millers that provided mana but ended up underperforming.
- Mirror-Mad Phantasm milled too many cards and would constantly get the Eldrazi titans in my graveyard and would recover the graveyard when I didn't want it to. It was more trouble than what it's worth.
- Unfulfilled Desires, Merfolk Looter, Magus of the Bazaar, and Enclave Cryptologist were part of a draw/discard/dredge system that underperformed. It was too klanky.
- Notion Theif, Mind Unbound, and Psychic Vortex made me draw too many cards. The deck's not about drawing cards. I want to trigger Sidisi and get cards in my graveyard. They weren't cutting it.
- Liliana Vess was a good planeswalker because it provided a discard outlet, tutoring, and could reanimate all graveyards. However, I don't want to reanimate everything - especially not Filth or Genesis.
12/1/2014
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- Crucible of Worlds, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Stone-Seeder Hierophant were removed since the deck no longer draws a large amount of cards so they basically took up space. Crucible of Worlds is good to play lands from the graveyard, however, Life from the Loam has been enough.
- Temple Bell and Kami of the Crescent Moon were the last cards of the card-draw group-hug that needed to go, naturally. The deck no longer digs into the deck by drawing; it's done by "looting".
- Memnarch was a good mana sink but just ended up being winmore.
- Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse became useless as the amount of basic lands was eventually reduced to 1 of each.
- Villainous Wealth - though and amazing card - was more like an alternate wincon since whoever got hit by it just scooped. Having over 40 cards exiled to then be obtained by me just made the victim scoop. Having them scoop also takes away your spoils so it was more trouble than what it's worth.
- Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir served to delay opponents but it really didn't do much else and this deck isn't that control for meriting adding Teferi.
- Arcane Lighthouse is not needed since the deck doesn't really spot remove or target creatures beyond tapping with Opposition.
10/4/15
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- Swapped out Garruk Relentless for Kiora, Master of the Depths. This version of Garruk was underperforming and the new Kiora was too broken to not include; she was made for this deck.
- Complete overhaul of the original post.
- Gave more importance to the competitive (main) build.
10/5/15
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Changes to the Zombie Tribal deck:
-Ruthless Deathfang
-Carrion Feeder
-Butcher of Malakir
-Khabál Ghoul
-Forbidden Alchemy
+Gurmag Drowner
+Kiora, Master of the Depths
+Garruk Wildspeaker
+Endless Ranks of the Dead
+Empty the Pits
-Soul of Innistrad
-Gray Merchant of Asphodel
-Nantuko Husk
-Phyrexian Ghoul
+Coat of Arms
+Voyaging Satyr
+Krosan Restorer
+Kiora's Follower
-Homeward Path
-Tainted Isle
-Tainted Wood
+Sol Ring
+Bojuka Bog
+Mortuary Mire
-Deadbridge Chant
-Evolutionary Leap
-Zombie Apocalypse
+Primal Vigor
+Doubling Season
+Parallel Lives
-Ruthless Deathfang
-Carrion Feeder
-Butcher of Malakir
-Khabál Ghoul
-Forbidden Alchemy
+Gurmag Drowner
+Kiora, Master of the Depths
+Garruk Wildspeaker
+Endless Ranks of the Dead
+Empty the Pits
-Soul of Innistrad
-Gray Merchant of Asphodel
-Nantuko Husk
-Phyrexian Ghoul
+Coat of Arms
+Voyaging Satyr
+Krosan Restorer
+Kiora's Follower
-Homeward Path
-Tainted Isle
-Tainted Wood
+Sol Ring
+Bojuka Bog
+Mortuary Mire
-Deadbridge Chant
-Evolutionary Leap
-Zombie Apocalypse
+Primal Vigor
+Doubling Season
+Parallel Lives
10/11/15
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Removed the "Casual" Build for costing almost as much as the Competitive Build. Honestly, if one had the budget, why build the Casual version? Therefore, the Casual Build was scratched for a truly Casual Build which is also built on budget. So far, the 3 versions of the deck are Competitive, Budget, and Tribal (which isn't that budget but still cheaper than the Competitive Build).
10/17/15
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Swapped out Gaea's Blessing for Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. I made some recent changes in order to get the creature count back to 32 which, if probability follows, should net you a zombie with each self mill. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth also has the added benefit of being discarded and having the effect whereas Gaea's Blessing can only do its intended effect only if it's in the library. So I was basically keeping a non-creature spell that only did one thing.
It's not so much that the removed cards were underperforming more than me wanting to up the creature count. I'm pretty comfortable with these changes and the self-milling has been more consistent thanks to it. Gurmag Drowner effectively replaces Forbidden Alchemy, the same holds true for Kozilek, Butcher of Truth with Gaea's Blessing and Butcher of Malakir with Dictate of Erebos. Golgari Grave-Troll was what remained of the original, inefficient dredge+looter concept so swapping it out for Hell's Caretaker was a natural thing. Narcomoeba turned out to be so broken in the casual build that I just had to find a slot for it in the competitive build.
Other Changes
Removed:
Added:
Approximate Total Cost:
It's not so much that the removed cards were underperforming more than me wanting to up the creature count. I'm pretty comfortable with these changes and the self-milling has been more consistent thanks to it. Gurmag Drowner effectively replaces Forbidden Alchemy, the same holds true for Kozilek, Butcher of Truth with Gaea's Blessing and Butcher of Malakir with Dictate of Erebos. Golgari Grave-Troll was what remained of the original, inefficient dredge+looter concept so swapping it out for Hell's Caretaker was a natural thing. Narcomoeba turned out to be so broken in the casual build that I just had to find a slot for it in the competitive build.
10/30/15
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Added more details to the Zombie Tribal.
Some changes to the Zombie Tribal:
These changes were made because the deck uses other methods of self-mill so I could go without Fact or Fiction and Mulch. Obelisk of Urd was too costly for what it does and Vengeful Dead is redundancy for Diregraf Captain's ability. Rogue's Passage allows me to attack worry-free with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant.
Gravecrawler was added along with Phyrexian Altar because together they provide an infinite sacrifice engine which can be used to trigger so many other cards; they warranted inclusion. That, and they're also both pretty useful on their own, with Gravecrawler being constantly cast from the graveyard for a mere and Phyrexian Altar providing lots of colored mana when needed.
Looking at the deck, I could've sworn Craterhoof Behemoth was in the Zombie Tribal build - it wasn't. So I swapped out Thunderfoot Baloth for it.
Also, added a bit more detail to the Zombie Build.
As for the other builds:
Glen Elendra Archmage has replaced Jace, Memory Adept in the main build. Jace just wasn't cutting it when compared to the other planeswalkers and Glen Elendra Archmage provides some much needed control to the deck all the while being recurred. Also in the main build, I gave some budget replacements that could potentially bring the price down to ~$500.
Updated the Budget Build with variants reaching up to $100.
Some changes to the Zombie Tribal:
Changes
Approximate Total Cost:
These changes were made because the deck uses other methods of self-mill so I could go without Fact or Fiction and Mulch. Obelisk of Urd was too costly for what it does and Vengeful Dead is redundancy for Diregraf Captain's ability. Rogue's Passage allows me to attack worry-free with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant.
Gravecrawler was added along with Phyrexian Altar because together they provide an infinite sacrifice engine which can be used to trigger so many other cards; they warranted inclusion. That, and they're also both pretty useful on their own, with Gravecrawler being constantly cast from the graveyard for a mere and Phyrexian Altar providing lots of colored mana when needed.
Looking at the deck, I could've sworn Craterhoof Behemoth was in the Zombie Tribal build - it wasn't. So I swapped out Thunderfoot Baloth for it.
Also, added a bit more detail to the Zombie Build.
As for the other builds:
Glen Elendra Archmage has replaced Jace, Memory Adept in the main build. Jace just wasn't cutting it when compared to the other planeswalkers and Glen Elendra Archmage provides some much needed control to the deck all the while being recurred. Also in the main build, I gave some budget replacements that could potentially bring the price down to ~$500.
Updated the Budget Build with variants reaching up to $100.
11/16/15
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Finally made the swap official and final: Scroll Rack replaces Bazaar of Baghdad. The deck isn't as full reanimator as Bazaar of Baghdad would warrant inclusion for. That land's much better suited for commanders like Teneb, the Harvester, The Mimeoplasm, Sheoldred, Whispering One, etc. I've always wanted to add Scroll Rack and was finally able to. This also cuts the budget down considerably.
As for the Zombie Tribal build, Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest has been so amazing that I decided to build a commander with it. I replaced Grave Titan with it and have regretted nothing. With the Phyrexian Altar / Gravecrawler combo I can get infinitely many +1/+1 counters on my creatures. That's just epic. Even without indefinitely occurring sacrifices, I usually just sacrifice all the zombies that can't attack and go for the epic alpha strike. Mazirek has really been awesome, trust me. Super broken!
As for the Zombie Tribal build, Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest has been so amazing that I decided to build a commander with it. I replaced Grave Titan with it and have regretted nothing. With the Phyrexian Altar / Gravecrawler combo I can get infinitely many +1/+1 counters on my creatures. That's just epic. Even without indefinitely occurring sacrifices, I usually just sacrifice all the zombies that can't attack and go for the epic alpha strike. Mazirek has really been awesome, trust me. Super broken!
11/29/15
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Some general aesthetic changes to the OP:
- indexing the sections
- entering in greater detail in the piloting sections
- providing a summarized analysis of Sidisi's pros & cons against other decks
- provided links to deckstats.net so players can see updated cardlists, stats, and prices
1/23/16
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Some general changes in all three builds:
The reason for most of these changes was due to the very recent (1/18/16) banning of Prophet of Kruphix. As I'm writing this, Seedborn Muse's price almost tripled from the $12 it used to be. I guessed as much. R.I.P. Prophet of Kruphix.
Budget Build:
- Prophet of Kruphix
- Realm Seekers
- Yavimaya Dryad
+ Vedalken Orrery
+ Forbidden Alchemy
+ Corpse Churn
- Prophet of Kruphix
- Realm Seekers
- Yavimaya Dryad
+ Vedalken Orrery
+ Forbidden Alchemy
+ Corpse Churn
The reason for most of these changes was due to the very recent (1/18/16) banning of Prophet of Kruphix. As I'm writing this, Seedborn Muse's price almost tripled from the $12 it used to be. I guessed as much. R.I.P. Prophet of Kruphix.
5/20/16
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Some general changes I've made that have been discussed so far in the thread which have become permanent (for the moment):
Budget Build
removed:
added:
Approximate Total Cost:
Zombie Build
Approximate Total Cost:
4/28/2017
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Some general changes that I made thanks to Protean Hulk getting unbanned on 4/24/2017. It obviously found its way in each of the non-budget builds.
Main Build
Approximate Total Cost:
Zombie Build
removed:
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Budget Build
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Approximate Total Cost:
1/12/2019
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Added Prime Speaker Vannifar and some cards that synergize well with her as well as on their own and with other cards in the deck. She allows some crazy plays within the deck and she serves as a sort of lieutenant in the deck being able to tutor for key creatures (both into play as well as the graveyard).
latest changes to the Main Build
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Approximate Total Cost:
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Thanks! I did follow your template quite literally 
