Varina, Lich Queen - Esper Zombie Midrange

[pzbw7z]

Does anyone have any good thoughts about Windfall? I saw it in some cool-kid Esper decks and I thought I'd give it a try. My deck is not particularly fast, but I somehow seem to be Hellbent frequently.

[Zombo]

Does anyone have any good thoughts about Windfall? I saw it in some cool-kid Esper decks and I thought I'd give it a try. My deck is not particularly fast, but I somehow seem to be Hellbent frequently.

awesome card and have good synergy with Bone Miser, Archfiend of Ifnir, Smothering Tithe. etc...

[Reya]

I gave a try to Entomb and it's so versatile.

- Find Wonder to keep attacking
- Fetch for a Wayward servant or similar to drain the table
- Find Sevinne's reclamation or a crucial Sevinne's target
- Find any powerful land when you can play them with Crucible of worlds

It will stay in my list for a looooooong time.

[toctheyounger]

Both Entomb and Windfall are nice. Theres good justification for both I'd say.

My only concern with Windfall is group draw being g very meta dependent. If you've got a Nekusar or Xyris in your pod, or a breach deck or what have you it could be inadvisable. Nonetheless it'll stop you going hellbent and fill the yard which is real nice.

Entomb I really do want here I think. I just want a reprint first, I definitely don't want it for the going rate.

[yeti1069]

What does everyone think of this?

[Falkenbach]

What does everyone think of this?

image.png

Finally another orzhov zombie.. sadly its 4 mana which is a very competitive curve position.
Also I myself run only 4 legendary zombies that would benefit from it (Varina, wilhelt grimgrin and mikaeus (not counting balthor)) and most here don't even run legendary zombies.
It shoulda been 3 mana and its effect only triggers once each turn

[pokken]

It's very strong but doesn't suit my style sadly. I only have like one 4 drop other than Varina.

[pzbw7z]

"Ratadrabik of Urborg"

The name and provenance are almost enough to make it worth considering. Almost.

[yeti1069]

It provides the opportunity to double up on Varina or Sidisi triggers, and helps protect vs crack back on a zombie body, is what I'm thinking. Not sure I'd run it for 4 mana either, but looks interesting.

[Reya]

Sadly 4 mana is probably too much. At 3 mana he would have worth the inclusion, maybe ! But still a very cool design and cool art! We can hope to have similar good stuff zombie to come.

[Reya]

Interesting note: Ratadranik synergizes well with Crypt Breaker.

[toctheyounger]

Yeah its pretty close, but costing just a little bit too much makes it likely a no. I don't run enough legendaries to make that cherry on top worth it, although I will trade with Varina more often than I probably should.

That said though global vigilance is a lot better than it looks on paper.

[Zombo]

What does everyone think of this?

image.png

I love it, I dont will cast it anyways...
It would be fun to have another Larry ETB after disk activation. Also, I will try to have an army of Wilhelts.

[Jwelou]

I think the card is nuts, but I'm a bit biased because I play a lot of non-zombie legendaries in my build. Having doubles of Toxrill, the Corrosive or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur sounds nutty. Not to mention, he protects you from getting blown out at the beginning of combat step by removal pointed at Varina. (My friends Red Elemental Blast her a LOT.)

Vigilance lord also really excites me. Obviously makes swinging with the squad easier, but also has great synergy with stuff like Cryptbreaker and Gravespawn Sovereign. Any other zombie cards I'm forgetting that care about tapping zombies as a cost?

[pzbw7z]

Founding the Third Path looks interesting. The first two levels are of little interest but Read Ahead lets one get to the good part! A two mana Living Death? It sounds good to me!

[toctheyounger]

Founding the Third Path looks interesting. The first two levels are of little interest but Read Ahead lets one get to the good part! A two mana Living Death? It sounds good to me!

You still gotta pay the cost unfortunately. Card is gonna be good in places where Expressive Iteration is legal though.

[Reya]

If everything goes as intended, we should have a very good Zombie lord for 2 mana in Dominaria. Wizards said that we will have a new cycle of rare lords. 4 lords have been spoiled so far:

White for Soldiers
Green for Elves
Red for Goblins
Blue for Merfolks

It seems it's always the most famous tribe that is supported here. So the most famous black tribe is Zombies, right ? I really hope it won't be vampires...

[pzbw7z]

A quick question for you guys on Crucible of Worlds, do you like City of Traitors?

[Falkenbach]

A quick question for you guys on Crucible of Worlds, do you like City of Traitors?

I would never play it. Without crucible its really a bad land.. and we need our land drop. The mana you get is colourless so it doesnt score any points there either. I would rather run a 10 times cheaper Ancient Tomb.

[RedCheese]

If everything goes as intended, we should have a very good Zombie lord for 2 mana in Dominaria. Wizards said that we will have a new cycle of rare lords. 4 lords have been spoiled so far:

White for Soldiers
Green for Elves
Red for Goblins
Blue for Merfolks

It seems it's always the most famous tribe that is supported here. So the most famous black tribe is Zombies, right ? I really hope it won't be vampires...

Nope. Instead is a cleric.....

They just kicked us in the balls....

[Reya]

If everything goes as intended, we should have a very good Zombie lord for 2 mana in Dominaria. Wizards said that we will have a new cycle of rare lords. 4 lords have been spoiled so far:

White for Soldiers
Green for Elves
Red for Goblins
Blue for Merfolks

It seems it's always the most famous tribe that is supported here. So the most famous black tribe is Zombies, right ? I really hope it won't be vampires...

Nope. Instead is a cleric.....

They just kicked us in the balls....

Yeah... what a shame Wizards !!! It could have been the best Zombie lord ever but no, we have a Cleric Lord. A sad day.

[Reya]

Is it crazy to cut Gray Merchant ? I played tons of games with Varina and usualy I kill my opponents with draining there life to 0 thanks to multiples iterations of aristocrats effects. Gray Merchant is rarely the key role in those victories. Most of the time it's infinite loop with Grave crawler and a drainer, mass reanimation loop with Repository Skaab or just a single huge mass reanimation with multiples drainers.

I'm seriously thinking of cutting Merchant tonight. After all, it's 5 mana for a non so relevant role. Most of the time, Merchant can buy me time but usualy it doesn't give me the victory, at the cost of 5 mana. 5 mana is really a lot in such a list.

What do you think ? I'm a fool or it's a pertinent question :D ?

[Zombo]

Is it crazy to cut Gray Merchant ? I played tons of games with Varina and usualy I kill my opponents with draining there life to 0 thanks to multiples iterations of aristocrats effects. Gray Merchant is rarely the key role in those victories. Most of the time it's infinite loop with Grave crawler and a drainer, mass reanimation loop with Repository Skaab or just a single huge mass reanimation with multiples drainers.

I'm seriously thinking of cutting Merchant tonight. After all, it's 5 mana for a non so relevant role. Most of the time, Merchant can buy me time but usualy it doesn't give me the victory, at the cost of 5 mana. 5 mana is really a lot in such a list.

What do you think ? I'm a fool or it's a pertinent question :D ?

I dont know, you dont need it if you are gonna combo with gravecrawler, but in mass reanimation its one of the best zombies in the yard.

[pzbw7z]

Is it crazy to cut Gray Merchant ?

Not necessarily. Gary is a strong card but without some other pieces, he will rarely win the game. My build contains things that make him into a win-con but yours is certainly different. A five-drop needs strong justification.

[toctheyounger]

Agreed. A lean and mean low to the ground build that does loops in one way or another doesn't really need Gary. He can be nice if you wanna go splashy but he's certainly not a lock for every build. I wouldn't be sad to lose him myself, he's certainly one of the more pedestrian win cons in black, and he's not even necessarily a win con here. You really do need a huge board to bleed the table out with him and thats not often easy.