- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed felt like an easy slamdunk, but was too slow with a 6MV Commander and too samey to Mirri the Cursed vampires in execution. As Mirri is her literal pet deck Mike didn't last long.
- Thraximundar kept blue stuff from Innistrad and added red - but if a 6MV commander was slow, a 7MV commander felt glacial. This deck stuck around for a while, but ultimately felt too much like a Thrax Sacrifice deck and not enough like a zombie deck.
- Sidisi, Brood Tyrant was next, adding Golgari Nonsense to the mix. This deck fell flat in that she hated having a commander that was not, themselves, a Zombie (a good learning and the reason why a few later commanders like Gisa and Geralf were never seriously considered) - it meant Sidisi dies to Noxious Ghoul triggers constantly, and the deck can't pivot to Voltron when needed. That Sidisi has to attack if the deck is stalling out only added insult to injury. It got scrapped after three games.
- The plan moldered for a while, before we gave a shot to Daxos the Returned when Amonkhet dropped and had all the spicy new Orzhov Mummies. This deck had too much tension though - Daxos cares about enchantments and while he's a zombie, his tokens are Spirits. The deck felt more like Enchantress Tokens than Zombies, and went to the crypt fast.
- Grusilda, Monster Masher seemed promising but as an uncard wasn't legal long. That deck also felt like it rewarded a frankenstein reanimator plan more than a zombie plan. Oh, and it was slow and fragile with a 5MV commander that needed to spend 4 to activate.
- Most recently she's been on Varina, Lich Queen and that deck has stood for a few years. Varina seemed perfect at first - all the Dimir Zombies she loved from her first months of playing, all the Orzhov zombies from Amonkhet, and a powerful draw engine in Varina. It took time to get a good list but eventually we had one that won regularly, with the ability to agilely pivot between an aristocrat plan, a voltron plan, an infinite combo plan (Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler + some sac outlet, usually an altar), and even a mill plan with Undead Alchemist. I thought I'd cracked it...until we last played. She was in the top two, but after the game ended she handed me the deck and said "we're done with Varina". She hated that if she wasn't constantly playing the aggressor and swinging in, Varina was basically just a tribal Rumbling Baloth. She prefers a slower, grindier, turlier gameplan where she can play politician, but Varina really forces swinging early and often especially the build she had. So...back to the drawing board.
I showed her Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant and Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver to shrugs. Finally, Dominaria United gave us hope - Ratadrabik of Urborg!
- MV of 4 or less? Check.
- Zombie typeline? Check.
- Has a boost to zombies? Check.
- Is in a color other than monoblack? Check.
- Enables a slightly different gameplan than her default? Check.
- Commander is big enough to be able to pivot to Voltron with all the lords in the deck? Check and mate.
I finally nabbed a copy and she seems into it, so here's the decklist.
Undying Legends
Approximate Total Cost:
The MaybeBoard
Approximate Total Cost:
- A few cards are in the maybeboard even though they're obviously great here because I'd need to pull them from somewhere else (Noxious Ghoul, Sheoldred, Black Market, DTutor). The rest are in the maybeboard because space was hard or for mana curve reasons (the curve already feels high).
- Notably not in the maybeboard are Talisman of Hierarchy, Orzhov Signet, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, and Teysa Karlov - all obviously insane here, but I don't have spares and it'll be a bit until I go track some down (Mondrak and Norn are also a bit pricey for my budget).
- This is a Zombie deck first and a legends deck second, hence no Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Loran of the Third Path, Arvad the Cursed, Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Primevals' Glorious Rebirth, etc.
- That being said, I think some of the legends are pretty fun and spicy. The God-Eternals (Oketra especially) are awesome since Ratadrabik's effect doesn't exile, meaning you get a copy of the God and then recast the god a few turns later. Ebondeath gives this deck an inevitable stream of 2/2 flying vigilance zombies that can get pumped by lords. Liesa, Forgotten Archangel is best of all and makes me wonder if the deck needs more ways to recur her. And several of these get sorta nutty if you get Anointed Procession or Drivnod down for even more copies.
