Varina, Lich Queen - Esper Zombie Midrange

[RedCheese]

I'm Binding Mummy biggest stan and i'm happy that it performed greatly for you XD

Richard's take in this tier list was terrible rofl. They underestimated Varinna so much. Tomer had the better takes among them.

[pokken]

In particular from a high power perspective I think grixis and esper are the best colors. The intuition package of phyrexian altar gravecrawler and sevinnes reclamation is basically bananas. It's enough to build a deck around. Find intuition and go off.

Grixis had some similar lines with past in flames but they're not super zombeyish.

Red does bring some crazy stuff like breach tho.

I think overall Varina is the best color combo for zombies but Kraum tormod are stronger effects I guess? Kraum is really really good.

From casual fun Varina rewards attacking and tribal stuff so much that it feels like the obvious most fun medium power build to me too. It'd be super easy to replace all the combo bs in my deck with draw doublers and lords and have a very fair deck.

[yeti1069]

Damn near decked myself (14 cards left in library) in a game just now vs Nezahal, Primal Tide, Greven, Predator Captain, and Volo, Guide to Monsters. Got Kindred Discovery out on curve, followed by Diregraf Colossus two turns later to double up on triggers. Was playing kind of cautiously early in the game when I thought the other blue players were holding counter spells, but after drawing 24 cards and plunking down a Tidehollow Sculler to check Nez's hand (while holding 3 counter spells of my own), I first blew up my KD with a Generous Gift, exiled all creatures from yards with Withered Wretch, then cast the Living Death for game. Crypt of Agadeem tapped for 5, 7, 9, 12, 24 mana over the course of the game, and was a big part of my being able to outpace the table.

I was also attacking conservatively, keeping at least 3 blockers back in case Greven came my way and had a piece of removal, since I guessed correctly when they drew Hatred.

[toctheyounger]

Damn near decked myself (14 cards left in library) in a game just now vs Nezahal, Primal Tide, Greven, Predator Captain, and Volo, Guide to Monsters. Got Kindred Discovery out on curve, followed by Diregraf Colossus two turns later to double up on triggers. Was playing kind of cautiously early in the game when I thought the other blue players were holding counter spells, but after drawing 24 cards and plunking down a Tidehollow Sculler to check Nez's hand (while holding 3 counter spells of my own), I first blew up my KD with a Generous Gift, exiled all creatures from yards with Withered Wretch, then cast the Living Death for game. Crypt of Agadeem tapped for 5, 7, 9, 12, 24 mana over the course of the game, and was a big part of my being able to outpace the table.

I was also attacking conservatively, keeping at least 3 blockers back in case Greven came my way and had a piece of removal, since I guessed correctly when they drew Hatred.

You definitely played that right, Greven is a terror if it's given any sort of wiggle room.

[toctheyounger]

I haven't watched this yet, but just a heads up in case you want to see it.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/co ... -tier-list

I'll watch it but I know I'm going to hate every second of Saffron's voice. Cant stand it, he sounds like a sesame street character for no good reason.

[Reya]

Do you think Varina is a Mox Diamond and/or Chrome Mox list ?

I can see both of them easily playable here. Lot of cheap zombies to exile for Chrome Mox and a few lands recursion to mitigate Mox Diamond card disadvantage.

[pokken]

Do you think Varina is a Mox Diamond and/or Chrome Mox list ?

I can see both of them easily playable here. Lot of cheap zombies to exile for Chrome Mox and a few lands recursion to mitigate Mox Diamond card disadvantage.

If you're trying to build a more powerful deck, 100%. It's probably a Lotus Petal and Dark Ritual deck, tbh.

I don't play them cos I try not to jam the moxen in every deck and it's not the texture I want for my deck, but they would almost surely be upgrades.

[Reya]

Yeah same opinion. But mainly the are not very played for budget reason 😬

[pzbw7z]

Culling the Weak and Diabolic Intent are two more that easily fit a higher-power Varina build.

[pokken]

Culling the Weak and Diabolic Intent are two more that easily fit a higher-power Varina build.

I did some thinking on these and I am not sure we want to be sac'ing dudes early in the game, so I might skip those in a low to the ground build. Dunno though. Culling is really strong at finishing the game.

[pzbw7z]

Anybody dig Reprieve?

[pokken]

Anybody dig Reprieve?

It's decent for sure. I think if you were building a WW sweeper based deck it might outperform something like Swan Song often enough to be useful.

I think the mass blink/sweeper combo Varina is probably a bit underexplored and If ind it kinda interesting. Return to the Ranks is so good too.

[yeti1069]

Anybody dig Reprieve?

White Remand? In non-blue decks it's decent, although I don't see Remand getting much EDH play.

[pzbw7z]

Anybody dig Reprieve?

White Remand? In non-blue decks it's decent, although I don't see Remand getting much EDH play.

Fair point. Tempo isn't the greatest strategy for multi-player games.

I really find that counter magic doesn't usually work for me; I just don't keep mana up. I know I need the good stuff, but there's no money for Magic these days.

[yeti1069]

Anybody dig Reprieve?

White Remand? In non-blue decks it's decent, although I don't see Remand getting much EDH play.

Fair point. Tempo isn't the greatest strategy for multi-player games.

I really find that counter magic doesn't usually work for me; I just don't keep mana up. I know I need the good stuff, but there's no money for Magic these days.

I'm not running any free counters her, but if I have one in hand I'll just try to keep mana up. Most often, though I use them to protect my own mass reanimate or some such.

[pokken]

Remand is basically Counterspell for 1U that draws a card in most CEDH games. I've run it a lot in Maelstrom Wanderer too

White remand that beats uncounterable, and gives a counterspell to a color with almost no real countermagic...it's legit.

In Varina though, the only counters/removal I run cost 1-2 or are free or are zombies. My interaction package is:

• murderous rider
• chain of vapor
• arcane denial
• mana drain
• fierce guardianship
• pact of negation

If I wanted another counterspell, Reprieve would be on my list for sure. Things that cantrip and help defend your combos are great.

Especially these days people run a lot of Beast Within type effects as their main removal, so chances of them recasting those while I'm comboing are slim

[Reya]

Speaking of interaction. I recently added Otawara to my list. It's one of the best interactive card available, almost uncounterable and easy to slot into a Varina list. I don't remember seeing people run it here.

[pokken]

Speaking of interaction. I recently added Otawara to my list. It's one of the best interactive card available, almost uncounterable and easy to slot into a Varina list. I don't remember seeing people run it here.

I try to keep the basics count pretty high but otawara is real nice.

[RedCheese]

Is Chain of Vapor that good? Can't wrap my head around it been that much better than an Unsummon?

[pzbw7z]

Is Chain of Vapor that good? Can't wrap my head around it been that much better than an Unsummon?

Permanent is better than just creature.

In cEDH Chain of Vapor is sometimes used for shenanigans with 0-MV rocks - sac a tapped land, bounce a tapped rock, but that doesn't really come into play here.

[pokken]

Is Chain of Vapor that good? Can't wrap my head around it been that much better than an Unsummon?

It hits rest in peace etc. it also lets you protect your altars. It's insanely versatile. I even won a game double garying with it once.

Probably the most common thing way I've used it is as a combo protector (bounce your altar when they try to kill it) but I've used it to bounce all kinds of stuff so I can win.

[pzbw7z]

Anybody dig this?

One per turn but only three mana thus Sevinne-able. Noteworthy is that Varina's ability can trigger it on opponents turns.

[pokken]

One per turn but only three mana thus Sevinne-able. Noteworthy is that Varina's ability can trigger it on opponents turns.

I think it could be good in a deck that looks to play a longer game using more of Varina's ability and token synergies and less fast zombocombo bs or aggro. Varina definitely has a control shell deck that just makes zombies and uses stuff like Opposition and Dreadhorde Invasion type stuff. There're a few other efficient zombie token makers too IIRC (Lazotep Chancellor is legit).

In my build, Varina's ability is plan C or D usually except to fill up mana usage.

This card is really, really good with Ashnod's Altar since it lets you make a zombie-sac a zombie loop and draw a card every player's turn (until you run out of graveyard anyway).

[pzbw7z]

One per turn but only three mana thus Sevinne-able. Noteworthy is that Varina's ability can trigger it on opponents turns.

I think it could be good in a deck that looks to play a longer game using more of Varina's ability and token synergies and less fast zombocombo bs or aggro. Varina definitely has a control shell deck that just makes zombies and uses stuff like Opposition and Dreadhorde Invasion type stuff. There're a few other efficient zombie token makers too IIRC (Lazotep Chancellor is legit).

In my build, Varina's ability is plan C or D usually except to fill up mana usage.

This card is really, really good with Ashnod's Altar since it lets you make a zombie-sac a zombie loop and draw a card every player's turn (until you run out of graveyard anyway).

That's some quality analysis there!

My deck relies on slow zombocombo BS. That and mass reanimation, so another source of multi-card draw would be super.

Card draw is my decks biggest weakness. I've got Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora but another source of multiple-card draw would be hugely beneficial. Those two can draw large numbers of cards, but anything that can net cards is groovy in my book. And redundancy is important for critical needs.

Binding Mummy and Tormod, the Desecrator increased the value Varina's ability for me; another card that synergizes well with her would be welcome. I've brought Universal Automaton and Razorlash Transmogrant on board to get more out of Ashnod's Altar so far without having an opportunity for it to work for me, so another card that boosts it would also be welcome.

[pokken]

I would usually run Teferi's Ageless Insight and Alhammarret's Archive before Tocasia's Welcome personally just for the massive explosion potential. I don't love those cards, but they are insanely strong.

But I still think Plumb the Forbidden and Epiphany at the Drownyard are both superior to most card draw options since they don't require much setup mostly and tend to be pretty good when you're behind or about to be behind.

It *really* punishes people when you blast a Plumb when they sweep the board.

I also am not on Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora becaues I believe they conflict with optimal Varina sequencing too much. They're *really really bad* (remora less so) topdecks, And this deck wants to topdeck well.