"If there'd been a mix up my uncle could have been President of the United States. He was an army undertaker, also known as a 'barrack embalmer'." - Milton Jones
Creature tokens! Mostly Zombies and Warriors (and Zombie Warriors, and Zombie Bird Warriors...). I'm a tricolourphile, although there are probably three workable two-colour decks in here (BW tokens, UB tokens and UW... uh... tokens).
Get a few innocuous creatures on the board. Chump Blockers really... Anointed Procession starts the ball rolling. Double (or quadruple, or octuple) your tokens. Those chump blockers can suddenly swarm the board with mummies, and with enough sources of tokens your opponents will be overwhelmed.
Summary:
Early Pressure:
Trueheart Duelist
Cost Reduction: Oketra's Monument, Embalmer's Tools
Lifegain/drain: Anointer Priest, Wayward Servant
Token Spawn: Cartouche of Solidarity, Liliana's Mastery,
Noosegraf Mob
, Oketra's Monument, Oketra the True
Token Boosters: Anointed Procession, Liliana's Mastery,
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun
, Aven Wind Guide, Lord of the Accursed
Removal:
Never / Return
Extra Fun: Vizier of Many Faces
Playstyle:There are a number of 2 CMC creatures, two of which benefit from Oketra's Monument for cost reduction. This means a turn 2 play should be in your opening hand.
Warrior token spawn comes from a few sources, chiefly Oketra's Monument and it's namesake, Oketra the True. The latter is a formidable blocker, and her limitation should be easily overcome with this deck. Cartouche of Solidarity is a great enchantment. A 3/3 First-Striking double-blocker (
Trueheart Duelist
) and a 1/1 with Vigilance for 1 mana could be a strong turn 3 play. These tokens should (at least initially) be thought of as fodder, and grist for Miss "Ghoul Sister" Anointer Priest, although with
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun
on the board it makes a reliable unblockable 2 damage to harry your opponents.
Almost all of your creatures are expendable, and indeed you want them to die, although ideally after Anointed Procession has dropped. After this, Embalming yields two copies of everything, and as zombies they suddenly benefit from the buffs afforded by Liliana's Mastery and Lord of the Accursed, as well as Aven Wind Guide and
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun
.
Noosegraf Mob
, although expensive, is potentially off the hook thanks to Anointed Procession. Every spell generates 2,4 or 8 zombies (depending on the number of doublers you have down), between 10 and 40 in all, and with one of the power boosters on the table he doesn't even die when he runs dry. It makes a useful target for Vizier of Many Faces, although if you see something you like in your match-up then going for that might be more fun/interesting (Odric would make an excellent target if you have Oketra on the field, otherwise Standard staples like Yahenni would seriously frustrate and confound opponents). The Menace provided by Lord of the Accursed should enable a swing for the win, if Wayward Servant hasn't already bled them dry.
Removal is minimal. After some debate I settled on
Never / Return
, mainly due to Planeswalker hate. I also get the option of extra zombies off
Noosegraf Mob
or Oketra the True if she somehow lands in my graveyard. I'll need to put more into the sideboard, particularly some exile to take care of other God's, and some artifact removal (mustn't forget Kaladesh is still in Standard).
Finally, Embalmer's Tools not only reduce the cost of mummification, but allow me to mill my opponent as well. Having a large number of Vigilant Zombies on the field means I can attack, then defend, then tap to mill, keeping my opponent on his toes at all angles.
All in all, relentless, impenetrable, strategic and fun. Hopefully.
Mana is always an issue for me, because I'm a cheapskate. I got all the non-land cards + a butt-load of tokens for 15; hence the mana base is made up of basics or simple dual-colour lands. I have to note though that the synergy between SOI and AKH lands is awesome. Edit: I've gone up to 24 lands, replacing a
Trueheart Duelist
with a Cascading Cataracts; I also put in a Cradle of the Accursed in place of a Plains as I got one from a booster. Moar Zombies...
