Varina, Lich Queen - Esper Zombie Midrange
Aside from Varina from the command zone and Gravecrawler, what are you casting not from your hand? I guess if you're on Haakon?
Sefris, Varina, Korvold Lands Ho!, Queen Marchesa, Aikido/Goad, Kadena, Tuvasa, Tymna & Tevesh Cleric Tribal, Ghired,
Prosper, Captain N'ghatrod, Sméagol, Frodo & Sam, Henzie, Sauron, the Dark Lord, Eowyn, Shieldmaiden, Galadriel of Lothlorien
Prosper, Captain N'ghatrod, Sméagol, Frodo & Sam, Henzie, Sauron, the Dark Lord, Eowyn, Shieldmaiden, Galadriel of Lothlorien
Well, it would make Gravecrawler combo go actually infinite mana which is pretty decent. But if you have gravecrawler and altar you're already in pretty good shape ![Smile :)](./images/smilies/1-smile-fb.png)
If it cost 2 mana it'd be better than Tormod, the Desecrator but right now if you want that effect of extra zombie for zombie leaving you want Tormod -- who doubles up with Varina's ability too.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/1-smile-fb.png)
If it cost 2 mana it'd be better than Tormod, the Desecrator but right now if you want that effect of extra zombie for zombie leaving you want Tormod -- who doubles up with Varina's ability too.
Tomb Fortress
Land
Enter battlefield tapped.
Produces black mana
You can tap it, pay 2BBB and exile it to mill four cards then return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. But only at sorcery speed.
Well, entering tapped and sorcery speed remove all the fun.
Land
Enter battlefield tapped.
Produces black mana
You can tap it, pay 2BBB and exile it to mill four cards then return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. But only at sorcery speed.
Well, entering tapped and sorcery speed remove all the fun.
-
- Posts: 120
- Joined: 3 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
If you go wide this could be cool , yet those who play overcharged Amalgram might prefer the creature
A good one from Unfinity:
« Lifetime » Pass Holder
Zombie Guest
2/1 for B.
Enters tapped.
When « Lifetime » pass Holdier dies, open an attraction.
Whenever you roll to visit your Attractions, if you roll a 6, you may return « Lifetime » Pass Holder from graveyard to battlefield tapped.
« Lifetime » Pass Holder
Zombie Guest
2/1 for B.
Enters tapped.
When « Lifetime » pass Holdier dies, open an attraction.
Whenever you roll to visit your Attractions, if you roll a 6, you may return « Lifetime » Pass Holder from graveyard to battlefield tapped.
Do we know what an attraction is? ![Sticking Out Tongue :P](./images/smilies/3-tongue-fb.png)
![Sticking Out Tongue :P](./images/smilies/3-tongue-fb.png)
- toctheyounger
- Posts: 4011
- Joined: 5 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Yeah, to be honest, I'm not going to be including un cards in any of my builds moving forward. I like Fruit Loops and I like oatmeal, but I don't like them together. I'm very happy to discuss them of course but for me, I really don't like them mixing. Much the same with 40k, I think there's some great cards, but I'm just not into crossover. Its a neurotic thing for me, I just can't do it.
Plus Un cards are just so often a bit too wild.
Plus Un cards are just so often a bit too wild.
Hey All,
It's been a while since I've written. I'm still following the thread and have been lowering my curve (currently 2.43 non-land CMC/MV) like a few of you have to capitalize on Varina-triggers sooner. I'm curious what folks would tweak with my current decklist. You can click on the mana symbols next to Varina in my signature to see it. Caveat: I can't afford Intuition, so I don't plan to go full on aristocrats-combo. I also don't really want to fork out the cash for Entomb, or Misty Rainforest or Scalding Tarn. My mana-base works fairly well as is. Also, I've been quite happy with Buried Alive which is a recent add, so it's going to stay. I noticed a few of you have eschewed Wonder and I had removed it for a while as well, but something felt missing for me. I played several games where Varina just didn't perform very well, so I made a few changes adding Wonder back in, Buried Alive, and Stitcher's Supplier. Since then, I have literally won the last three games I've played with Varina. In two of those three, Wonder and Toxic Deluge were the all-stars allowing me to freely swing for Varina-triggers and I won mostly via combat. I did mass reanimate in both those games, but it wasn't enough to clear the table. Overall, I like that the deck can win via looping mass reanimation (like it did in the third game) or combat (like the other two wins). For a while, I was so bummed that the deck wasn't playing well that I thought of bumping my CMC back up some and adding in Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Vengeful Dead, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, and Empty the Laboratory as I previously had great success with them. But, the simple changes I recently made have worked wonders and kept the curve lower, so yay!! Honorable mention to Buried Alive and Master of Death in two of my three recent wins as well.
I've thought about adding in the Haakon package, but I'm not sure what I'd swap, so it's just a thought for now. What are your thoughts on having all three of Anguished Unmaking, Void Rend, and Generous Gift in there? I like that Generous Gift can take out a troublesome land if needed. I was thinking of pulling my sole Fierce Guardianship from my Nekusar pile and putting it in Varina for either Arcane Denial...or...I could swap it out for Generous Gift and forego the potential land removal. However, I could potentially remove GG for another sac outlet in the form of Phyrexian Ghoul, which I have, and also swap Arcane Denial for Fierce Guardianship. What are your perspectives on these?
One last question, without Mikaeus in the deck, is there functionally any real difference between Putrid Goblin and Butcher Ghoul? I have a Ghoul, but not the Goblin.
It's been a while since I've written. I'm still following the thread and have been lowering my curve (currently 2.43 non-land CMC/MV) like a few of you have to capitalize on Varina-triggers sooner. I'm curious what folks would tweak with my current decklist. You can click on the mana symbols next to Varina in my signature to see it. Caveat: I can't afford Intuition, so I don't plan to go full on aristocrats-combo. I also don't really want to fork out the cash for Entomb, or Misty Rainforest or Scalding Tarn. My mana-base works fairly well as is. Also, I've been quite happy with Buried Alive which is a recent add, so it's going to stay. I noticed a few of you have eschewed Wonder and I had removed it for a while as well, but something felt missing for me. I played several games where Varina just didn't perform very well, so I made a few changes adding Wonder back in, Buried Alive, and Stitcher's Supplier. Since then, I have literally won the last three games I've played with Varina. In two of those three, Wonder and Toxic Deluge were the all-stars allowing me to freely swing for Varina-triggers and I won mostly via combat. I did mass reanimate in both those games, but it wasn't enough to clear the table. Overall, I like that the deck can win via looping mass reanimation (like it did in the third game) or combat (like the other two wins). For a while, I was so bummed that the deck wasn't playing well that I thought of bumping my CMC back up some and adding in Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Vengeful Dead, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, and Empty the Laboratory as I previously had great success with them. But, the simple changes I recently made have worked wonders and kept the curve lower, so yay!! Honorable mention to Buried Alive and Master of Death in two of my three recent wins as well.
I've thought about adding in the Haakon package, but I'm not sure what I'd swap, so it's just a thought for now. What are your thoughts on having all three of Anguished Unmaking, Void Rend, and Generous Gift in there? I like that Generous Gift can take out a troublesome land if needed. I was thinking of pulling my sole Fierce Guardianship from my Nekusar pile and putting it in Varina for either Arcane Denial...or...I could swap it out for Generous Gift and forego the potential land removal. However, I could potentially remove GG for another sac outlet in the form of Phyrexian Ghoul, which I have, and also swap Arcane Denial for Fierce Guardianship. What are your perspectives on these?
One last question, without Mikaeus in the deck, is there functionally any real difference between Putrid Goblin and Butcher Ghoul? I have a Ghoul, but not the Goblin.
Last edited by ChocoDude 1 year ago, edited 3 times in total.
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Yeah I considered that, but what I also should've asked is why are folks running Putrid Goblin over Butcher Ghoul?
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Usually because persist is easier to combo with (mikaeus specifically afaik?)
- toctheyounger
- Posts: 4011
- Joined: 5 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Auckland, New Zealand
I started running it for Mike, but with that now in a Belbe hulk list thats a moot point.
Either to me are fine, I just see them as resilient early bodies. Butcher Ghoul has been weirdly tough to track down for me, so Putrid has stayed. And honestly, he's done good honest work.
Either to me are fine, I just see them as resilient early bodies. Butcher Ghoul has been weirdly tough to track down for me, so Putrid has stayed. And honestly, he's done good honest work.
I'd mail you one, but postage half-way around the world. . .
On an entirely different topic, has anyone given a thought to running Silence?
I think for me if it was between Butcher Ghoul or Putrid Goblin I would go with putrid goblin as its body is a 2/2 for two mana compaired to a 1/1 for two mana. Putrid Goblin also becomes a 3/1 if its has Skullclamp equiped. Making Putrid Goblin better for attacks and blocks.
I think Butcher Ghoul could certainly have a place in a build
I think Butcher Ghoul could certainly have a place in a build
Thanks All. Yeah I can see a case for either. If you want immediate card draw and have Skullclamp out then you'll get a 2/2 back right away and two cards with Butcher Ghoul. With the Goblin you can clamp and attack with it for a Varina trigger, if someone blocks, you get two cards and a 1/1. Without Mikaeus, it's six of one and half-dozen of the other. The order of triggers is flipped.
@pokken How has Cosmic Intervention played out for you? I can see adding in another sac outlet and Cosmic I to loop Gary, Servant, and/or Corpse Knight triggers.
@pokken How has Cosmic Intervention played out for you? I can see adding in another sac outlet and Cosmic I to loop Gary, Servant, and/or Corpse Knight triggers.
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
I don't think I have played it but the once and it was good (I presented intervention loop with archaeomancer zombie and altar and everyone scooped)
It's weird it just never seems to come up - often times when I have it I am just ready to try to win? I've had it foretold a few times and not needed to use it.
I believe it belongs in the deck if you're running fetchlands though; the whole double sac your board sequence is really good. It's likely that I had this line a few times and just didn't see it too. It's easy to forget that you can sac them again at your end step and they come back the next turn
![Sticking Out Tongue :P](./images/smilies/3-tongue-fb.png)
Yeah I think I may give it a whirl in place of Generous Gift. I may swap out Death Baron for Phyrexian Ghoul to get another sac outlet out there, although that's tough for me as the Baron is a bit of pet zombie.
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
I've got another question for you @pokken . Do you run Dictate of Erebos over Grave Pact to get the element of surprise, just before you sac a bunch of your creatures? I've got a spare Grave Pact, but only one Dictate and that's committed to my Ayara deck.
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
The real reason is that I like the art better on dictate and don't want to run two of the effect, but it's also more fun to get people and doesn't take 3 black pips.ChocoDude wrote: ↑1 year agoI've got another question for you @pokken . Do you run Dictate of Erebos over Grave Pact to get the element of surprise, just before you sac a bunch of your creatures? I've got a spare Grave Pact, but only one Dictate and that's committed to my Ayara deck.
- toctheyounger
- Posts: 4011
- Joined: 5 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Good to see you back again, friend! Hope you're keeping well.ChocoDude wrote: ↑1 year agoHey All,
It's been a while since I've written. I'm still following the thread and have been lowering my curve (currently 2.43 non-land CMC/MV) like a few of you have to capitalize on Varina-triggers sooner. I'm curious what folks would tweak with my current decklist. You can click on the mana symbols next to Varina in my signature to see it. Caveat: I can't afford Intuition, so I don't plan to go full on aristocrats-combo. I also don't really want to fork out the cash for Entomb, or Misty Rainforest or Scalding Tarn. My mana-base works fairly well as is. Also, I've been quite happy with Buried Alive which is a recent add, so it's going to stay. I noticed a few of you have eschewed Wonder and I had removed it for a while as well, but something felt missing for me. I played several games where Varina just didn't perform very well, so I made a few changes adding Wonder back in, Buried Alive, and Stitcher's Supplier. Since then, I have literally won the last three games I've played with Varina. In two of those three, Wonder and Toxic Deluge were the all-stars allowing me to freely swing for Varina-triggers and I won mostly via combat. I did mass reanimate in both those games, but it wasn't enough to clear the table. Overall, I like that the deck can win via looping mass reanimation (like it did in the third game) or combat (like the other two wins). For a while, I was so bummed that the deck wasn't playing well that I thought of bumping my CMC back up some and adding in Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Vengeful Dead, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, and Empty the Laboratory as I previously had great success with them. But, the simple changes I recently made have worked wonders and kept the curve lower, so yay!! Honorable mention to Buried Alive and Master of Death in two of my three recent wins as well.
I've thought about adding in the Haakon package, but I'm not sure what I'd swap, so it's just a thought for now. What are your thoughts on having all three of Anguished Unmaking, Void Rend, and Generous Gift in there? I like that Generous Gift can take out a troublesome land if needed. I was thinking of pulling my sole Fierce Guardianship from my Nekusar pile and putting it in Varina for either Arcane Denial...or...I could swap it out for Generous Gift and forego the potential land removal. However, I could potentially remove GG for another sac outlet in the form of Phyrexian Ghoul, which I have, and also swap Arcane Denial for Fierce Guardianship. What are your perspectives on these?
One last question, without Mikaeus in the deck, is there functionally any real difference between Putrid Goblin and Butcher Ghoul? I have a Ghoul, but not the Goblin.
Your list looks honestly pretty solid. You might have a little space around the lords package, I've always felt they're not great.
I remembered what my ulterior motive for Goblin was; sac fodder for altars to push mana acceleration. Quite often it'll be great for early Reclamation or reanimation. Its quite nice. But either Ghoul or Goblin would suffice.
As an aside for readers at large, Ad Naus has been super good for me in goldfishing. Almost guaranteed to see a quarter of my deck each cast without any major fear of bleeding out. Its been pretty amazing to have.