Varina, Esper Zombie

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pzbw7z
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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

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This is a barely thought-out first draft of a Grixis Zombie Try-Hard level deck. Some glaring shortcomings will be observed: No cards over $200, too many Zombies and no non-Zombie win-cons, and no free counterspells. Some of these are non-negotiable, some are just laziness. :)
Grixis Zombies

Planeswalkers


Approximate Total Cost:

Last edited by pzbw7z 1 year ago, edited 2 times in total.

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pzbw7z
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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

In: Out: Tormod has been on the bench for a while, I thought I'd give him a try out as he works well in some reanimation lines.
There may have been a better swap for Windswept Heath, but this was easy, and I can ditch the proxy Prismatic Vista in another deck.
Expedition Map has rarely done anything good for me and tonight it sat an entire game. I'm not trying to make Cabal Coffers work, so I don't think I need the Map. It's a glaring oversight to omit Dark Ritual. There have been so many games where I just didn't have the mana to finish the deal.

devilcatz
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Post by devilcatz » 1 year ago

Just curious. How effective is land tax with 6 basic lands?
I'm on 3 isle, 3 plains, 6 swamps (mixed with snow lands)

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pzbw7z
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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Land Tax is still nice with only seven basics. I'm not certain it's better than some U filtering or draw, but it is a solid turn-one play.

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Post by devilcatz » 1 year ago

It's an awesome t2 and even t3 play :)
I normally get to use it twice and draw 6 basics.
The leftovers — used by fetches to get some stuff, so I wonder if having more basics = can use the fetches and not let them sit doing nothing unless we get urborg.

Wondering if i can cut more basics from my 12 to 10 or etc.

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pzbw7z
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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Mostly it puts cards in hand to ditch to Varina's ability.

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Razorlash Transmogrant in for Liliana's Standard Bearer. Standard Bearer invariably disappoints, and a colorless Zombie is good to combo with Ashnod's Altar. Universal Automaton is on the wish list, I just haven't put in the effort to round it up.

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Tormod, the Desecrator really gets on well with Varina; two 2-2 Zombies for the price of one is pretty groovy. I'm well pleased with the swap. I'm looking forward to the day when I can get a Gravecrawler loop or a loop with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and one of the one-drop knights/changelings going with Tormod in play.

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

I found myself wondering what the plural of Apocalypse is tonight! :) :grin: :P :rofl:

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Universal Automaton has finally been obtained! I slotted it in in place of Vengeful Dead for now.

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Binding Mummy in, Grave Scrabbler out. Scrabbler's trick is just too unreliable and not all that exciting anyway.

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

Both good changes imo. Vengeful would be amazing if it were cheaper, but alas.
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

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RedCheese
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Post by RedCheese » 1 year ago

I'm a Binding Mummy stan so i support this change

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pzbw7z
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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

RedCheese wrote:
1 year ago
I'm a Binding Mummy stan so i support this change
Machine-gun tapping the board and then alpha striking an opponent seems like an hilarious thing to do. There can never be too many abusive things to do with Zombie recursion!

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pzbw7z
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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

toctheyounger wrote:
1 year ago
Both good changes imo. Vengeful would be amazing if it were cheaper, but alas.
Getting the curve down a bit is part of the plan. I don't plan to go hard at it, this deck is already too good for some of the groups I play in now though not good enough for some others. Mostly I'm satisfied with its performance, I really need something closer to precon-level for some of those groups.

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

In a game tonight, I dropped Tombstone Stairwell with eleven creatures in the graveyard and both Corpse Knight amd Wayward Servant in play. It wasn't as much fun as it could have been as it was over quickly, but it surely was effective!

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

In another game tonight, I was at 1 life and one of the other players had a board-state that really worried the other players. He had stuff goading everything everyone else had and some other annoying permanents. As the politics were going around, I assured the player on-turn that I could deal with the problem board-state.

So the guy on the play swung everything at the other player and passed the turn.

As promised, I dealt with his board-state. Living Death with 16 Zombies in the graveyard including Corpse Knight, Wayward Servant and Gray Merchant of Asphodel!

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

A big shout out goes to Cryptbreaker, that card is just so nuts! I drew SO many cards off that little guy tonight.

Haakon and company keep over-performing for me. Buried Alive is such a strong enabler with those guys around.

Rooftop Storm is a dubious include, I'll admit, but when it works, it really works!

I played in a new pod tonight, and won the first two games with Varina, with Corpse Knight doing doing the work. Haakon enabling re-casting of Foulmire and a Phyrexian Altar in one case and Carrion Feeder and Rooftop in the other case completing the combo. A big Gary made an impact as well.

After that, I decided I'd try Prosper on them. . . Poor guys. They did not get the least bit salty to their credit.

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Post by yeti1069 » 1 year ago

pzbw7z wrote:
1 year ago
RedCheese wrote:
1 year ago
I'm a Binding Mummy stan so i support this change
Machine-gun tapping the board and then alpha striking an opponent seems like an hilarious thing to do. There can never be too many abusive things to do with Zombie recursion!
Don't forget instant speed tapping mana rocks, tap abilities in upkeep, and creatures before attacks with Varina's token production, too.

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

yeti1069 wrote:
1 year ago
Don't forget instant speed tapping mana rocks
I blew someone out by tapping their Basalt Monolith in their upkeep one time when they were going for Rings combo but didn't wind up having enough to get started while paying the monolith cost. :P

I also tapped someone's Mana Vault in my turn which was also great.

But the best ever?

Dude plays a Static Orb into me. RIP everyone else.

I'm probably the biggest shill for Binding Mummy now, it's sneakily won me so many games. One game I lost by forgetting it and it'll never happen again :)

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Post by yeti1069 » 1 year ago

pokken wrote:
1 year ago
yeti1069 wrote:
1 year ago
Don't forget instant speed tapping mana rocks
I blew someone out by tapping their Basalt Monolith in their upkeep one time when they were going for Rings combo but didn't wind up having enough to get started while paying the monolith cost. :P

I also tapped someone's Mana Vault in my turn which was also great.

But the best ever?

Dude plays a Static Orb into me. RIP everyone else.

I'm probably the biggest shill for Binding Mummy now, it's sneakily won me so many games. One game I lost by forgetting it and it'll never happen again :)
I've had several games where it put in work.
A long while back I was facing down some deck with a huge threat that would have killed me on a swing, and I made a zombie at the beginning of combat on their turn, for 3 or 4 turns, to tap it down.

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Yesterday was a near duplicate of last Thursday; two wins with Varina and then one with Prosper for variety. Another good group of guys.

One game was a gift; one of the players was trying hard to kill me and would have done but another player prevented him from doing so with a Fog effect. That turned out to have been a mistake; I was holding Rooftop Storm and had Liliana, Untouched by Death on board with exactly three loyalty. Oh, and a big fat graveyard including Wayward Servant and Carrion Feeder. The Phyrexian Altar in my hand was entirely - if unusually - superfluous.

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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Replaced Countersquall with An Offer You Can't Refuse. The lower cost is of course the draw; I have trouble keeping mana up. The life off of Countersquall is pretty much negligible. The downside of Offer is real and in time, I'm sure it will bite me in the butt, but, hey, it seems a reasonable risk.

Sevinne's Reclamation finally came through for me tonight. I was trying to combo off with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge , Changeling Outcast, Corpse Knight and Phyrexian Altar. First, one guy tried to Cyclonic Rift the board but Dispel took care of that. Then another fellow destroyed my altar; that's where Sevinne came in. The eleven mana Crypt of Agadeem made ensured there was plenty of mana available to flash back Sevinne's. Haakan and Varina are a match made in. . . er. . . well. . . I'm not sure where, but it really is a super-synergistic relationship!

For a couple of turns in this game I had both Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora in play; it was rather ridiculous but it helped stock the graveyard!

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

The sevinnes intuition package is basically a cornerstone of my strategy now. It's gross.

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pzbw7z
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Post by pzbw7z » 1 year ago

Alas, there's no Intuition in my foreseeable future.

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