Zombie Horde Deck. I will most likely keep testing and updating this as I play it. I love horde decks, so I'll be making a lot of them! There are a lot of house rules I added to make the horde deck feel both challenging and not COMPLETELY mindless. The Unhinged Swamps are 2/2 Black Zombie Tokens, while the Unglued
Swamp
s are 5/5 Black Zombie Giant Tokens. I thought it would be cool to try having the Embalm tokens be part of the token list since they are technically tokens; as such, treat all cards in the decklist that have embalm as their embalm token counterparts (they are only white, have the same name, no mana cost, zombie in addition to other subtypes, and these don't count as the "regular spell" the horde needs to hit in order to stop). Now, just in case anybody needs a rule refresher as well as it mattering to how I designed this deck, the horde's turn occurs like this: reveal cards from the top of the horde's deck until a non-token card is revealed (remember, lands are tokens as well as any card having embalm), then take all revealed cards and cast them simultaneously (whether you want to consider the tokens as a regular cast (like being able to be countered) is up to you (also, I have this little rule that I added where all creature that the horde puts into play from this initial step enter the battlefield as a unit; therefore, Wayward Servant will trigger for every token revealed before it as well as after it) (another rule that some people add is a base limit to the number of cards revealed; for example, if the limit is 5, then the first 5 cards revealed can be considered "freebies" to the horde even if one of the cards is a "regular spell", and the horde deck will only stop revealing after it hits a "regular spell" that is not a part of those first 5 cards); after this, the horde cast all cards it has in it's hands; then the horde casts or activates any abilities it can from the graveyard; after all this, the horde then attacks with all creatures it can attack with as long as nothing is preventing it from doing so.
A rule to keep in mind is that the horde deck traditionally has infinite mana of all types at all times.
The defenders get to choose how much life each defender contributes to the game (adjust for difficulty).
I believe that the horde should be able to block if it has untapped creatures to block with (I don't think the horde creatures would just stand there as you waltz by and end them). So, I came up with some parameters for the horde to block. Creatures the horde controls that can block a creature that is attacking them must block if able, unless every creature that is attacking them is already blocked. The horde will not add extra creatures to an already blocked defenders creature unless the additional horde creatures can succeed in killing the attacking creature (the exception is creatures with trample, which the horde will add an extra creatures it has to that block). The horde makes as many favorable blocks as possible.
Also, when it comes to blocking the horde's attacking creatures, if multiple creatures are blocking one of the horde's creatures, the defenders decide which order their defending creatures are dealt damage. The only exception to this rule is when an effect the horde controls causes a certain creature to block, in which case the certain creature is always dealt damage first.
Another added rule for this deck, as well as any horde deck I build, I consider there to be two types of tokens the horde has. There are "tokens" and tokens. "Tokens" are the tokens within the deck itself. These should be treated as normal creatures cards with (0) mana and are put in the horde's graveyard (that's right, Zombie Apocalypse brings ALL the tokens back as well). Tokens are just regular tokens. These are ones created with Army of the Damned and Grave Titan. These are treated as regular tokens, use the custom token generator to represent these.
Additional rules for individual cards:
Anathemancer: Targets random defender.
Corpse Augur
: Targets the player with the lowest number of cards.
Crypt Champion
: The horde's target is the highest converted mana cost target within the 3 converted mana cost parameter (a tie is broken with a random choice of the tied cards).
Fleshbag Marauder: The horde prioritizes Gravecrawler, then Dread Wanderer, then 2/2 Black Zombie Tokens, then itself.
Necromancer's Covenant
: Targets defender with the most creatures in their graveyard.
Plague Belcher: Enter the battlefield trigger targets the horde's smallest creature.
Scourge of Nel Toth: Casts from graveyard only if there are two tokens to sacrifice.
Skaab Goliath
: Prioritizes tokens, otherwise shuffle into the horde's deck if unable to pay.
Skaab Ruinator: Prioritizes tokens, otherwise shuffle into the horde's deck if unable to pay, or keep in graveyard if unable to pay.
As far as any other nuances I have not covered here, I am a very thorough person and have not missed anything, those unanswered nuances are for you and your friends to decide amongst yourselves.
Lastly, keep in mind that this format is intended to be fun for the whole group, as well as extremely casual. Feel free to make changes to my rules and decklist to create the experience you want.
