I think it's a testament to Varina's design that she can manage so many strategies well. In many ways, there's a valid reason for doing any of the things we might want to with the undead.
...I thought that last sentence through, read it back and realised how it sounded....and decided to stick with it.
I think beatdown is pretty relevant, at a casual-mid level. There's a density of lords here and go wide cards that can totally support combat. I think you lose speed, but at that level you care less about that. Even then, there's neat things you can do like
Reconnaissance to make combat favorable.
I personally miss the wheel subtheme a bit.
Archfiend of Ifnir was the best non-zombie you could ask for. I don't think the density of cards to support that is quite there in Esper, but it sure was fun. I think you're missing just a couple of payoffs, especially on-tribe, and worthwhile, affordable wheel effects, either universal or individual.
I think at this point if I were going to retool the deck I'd want to move specifically into a more dedicated reanimator build. That theme is there, with what I've got, but I think I'd more go single target, focusing on reanimation chains a la
Rot Hulk and that sort of thing.
(looked up the price of it yesterday and jesus it's like 50 NZD)
I also think the comparison to Raffine is a little weird. Raffine seems more like a control deck than anything else. I like the card a lot, but I don't think it would translate over well if, all other things being equal and tribe aside, you just switched out Varina for Raffine. If anything I think the best comparison to Varina is
Tymna the Weaver. Varina comes off worse in that exchange frankly, but then most commanders do. Even in the colors being a partner and having access to
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator or
Sakashima of a Thousand Faces from the command zone is extraordinarily good.