Bitter Hands

Pauper HARDsofty

SCORE: 14 | 25 COMMENTS | 4350 VIEWS | IN 5 FOLDERS


Grave Scrabbler for sure.

October 7, 2014 2:47 a.m.

gnikrul says... #2

First of all, the great thing about Necromancer's Stockpile is that it lets you run singletons of Zombies that are strong against specific decks, or in specific situations, without them being a bad draw against other decks or when not in those situations. You can always pitch cards like Anurid Murkdiver, Barrow Ghoul, Carrion Crow, Corpse Blockade, Gangrenous Zombies, Gempalm Polluter, Gutless Ghoul, Rotting Mastodon, Nameless Inversion (it's a zombie even while discarding!), Nantuko Husk, Null Champion, Phyrexian Bloodstock, Phyrexian Reaper, Polluted Dead, Shepherd of Rot, or Smokespew Invoker if they aren't what you need, so the only reason not to have such tools available is the risk of your opponent finding enchantment destruction.

Sewer Shambler, Vengeful Dead, and Zombie Scavengers also synergize nicely with your Noble.

Ghoulcaller's Chant is fantastic value. I'd maindeck two at least.

As for what I'd cut, Read the Bones is just diluting your zombie count, as is Vile Rebirth. Meanwhile, Servant of Tymaret, Gravedigger, and Walking Corpse aren't too exciting here either.

Your choice of uncommons also don't really do enough to justify their cost considering they also don't have the Zombie type. You'd probably be better off with Soulless One and/or Undead Warchief, or maybe Skinrender, Stromgald Crusader, Yixlid Jailer, and Noxious Ghoul if you want to go full toolbox.

November 5, 2014 11:19 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #3

Very interesting! I'll talk with a local shop keeper for Magic about much of these and see what's in stock. Thanks!

November 6, 2014 11:36 a.m.

HARDsofty says... #4

Walking Corpse is an easy pitch to the graveyard turn three and it usually gets exiled from there using Vile Rebirth. Other Zombies may become acquired when I get them from local shops. I like the whole toolbox idea but probably won't go that route. I only play Noble with a friend and it usually is just for some casual fun.

Skinrender is in until I find copies of Undead Warchief at a local shop. Totally neglected him when I went to get Gempalm Polluter.

Now all I need is to playtest the deck against my friends Noble deck in the meantime.

November 19, 2014 8:28 p.m.

Personally, I'd swap out a couple higher-CMC zombies for Toxic Nim. It allows for a harder to remove alternate win-con AND can be used as a means of taking down indestructible creatures. Sangrophage and Carnophage offer a means to get the jump on opponents with a low CMC (at a cost, obviously). Blind Creeper falls in a similar vein. Embalmed Brawler has the potential to get huge. Highborn Ghoul would be a good alternate for your Walking Corpse. Also, I'd swap out Skinrender as the uncommon for Undead Warchief, which was mentioned above. He'll make your other Zombies cheaper and WAY stronger. Just my take in the deck though, feel free to use/scrap advice as you like.

November 19, 2014 9:10 p.m.

+1, by the way. I didn't think a zombie tribal Noble was a thing that could be pulled off. It seems like all the good ones are rare, but never good enough on their own to justify being a noble (read Gravecrawler, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, etc.). I like the take on the stockpile, although I might have gone with Endless Ranks of the Dead, instead.

November 19, 2014 9:14 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #7

Toxic Nim is a possibility if I can talk my friend into allowing me to use infect. We agreed (after using infect against infect) to never use infect cards; though I made an infect Pauper deck years later [just for the hell of it] but never used it. Just for competition's sake, I might swap Toxic Nim into sideboard to use against other Magic players if Noble becomes a more locally used format.

Carnophage may end up replacing Vile Rebirth. If I find any copies or copies are found for me.

Highborn Ghoul to replace Walking Corpse. Too bad most of my DKA were ruined by floodwater.

Undead Warchief is a must!

November 20, 2014 1:36 a.m.

HARDsofty says... #8

Spiteful Returned may end up being used as uncommon if I can find two more copies.

Found out Undead Warchief is a bit expensive at uncommon. Also is hard to come by.

November 20, 2014 10:17 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #9

This deck is shaping up to do the decent thing!

November 23, 2014 4:51 p.m.

Headers13 says... #10

Ever thought of splashing blue for Havengul Lich, with the low cmc of your zombies it makes them a bit more expendable as you can recast them from your graveyard? I'd also consider adding in a bit of card draw so you could keep refilling your hands with zombies, Read the Bones or Sign in Blood maybe?

I've recently put a zombie deck together if you wanted to check it out, Dead Man's Hand

November 25, 2014 3:09 a.m.

HARDsofty says... #11

Really want to keep the deck as is until I further playtest. Thats if my friend still wants to use his draw/mill deck or happens to make a different Noble deck. May have to talk him into venturing a playstyle more suited for challenge.

I could make a second Zombie deck using U/B. The Lich is all right to use as a U/B Noble. I would need to get a copy since in the past traded one when it was more expensive. Should be easier to get/afford now.

Read the Bones had been suggested to be removed from deck, but I may end up putting Sign in Blood in the mainboard. I don't know what I'd swap out for 'em.

November 25, 2014 4:02 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #12

riddance: Butcher Ghoul.

November 27, 2014 9:48 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #13

Sign in Blood has proved useful when Noble isn't on the battlefield.

LOVES this deck. ya know, for a zombie deck and all...

If I could plus one upvote again? infinite-s +ing-s

reminds me of infinite code placed into a program one time, purposelessly

March 26, 2015 8:19 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #14

swatting flies

March 28, 2015 5:14 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #15

dead inside

May 14, 2015 2:50 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #16

Undead Servant might be a four-of in this deck.

Pitch three to the graveyard then cast the final one...

Just for some casual fun with Noble!

July 13, 2015 7:40 p.m.

Oh man, Necromancer's Stockpile, I love that card!

One suggestion I might make would be to toss Voracious Null for those Carnophages or Sewer Shamblers you're thinking about.

The Null is just unplayably bad, having that ability restricted to Sorcery speed. Besides, you don't want to Sac zombies anyway, so you can recur Gempalm Polluter again and again via Ghoulcaller's Chant and do a bunch of damage while you draw a card.

December 27, 2015 10:23 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #18

This deck isn't seeing any play, and I'm sad.

August 27, 2017 10:38 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #19

If only more people played Noble.

September 22, 2017 2:37 a.m.

Snap157 says... #20

I play 4 Shepherd of Rot, plus Tattered Mummy works well with sac outlets and recursion

December 10, 2018 9:36 a.m.

HARDsofty says... #21

Thanks a bunch Snap157! I'll try and find the M19 zombie in my collection. I'll go to an LGS for the other.

December 10, 2018 9:48 a.m.

Wolfpig says... #22

Well done. Love the Barren Moor .

October 18, 2019 2 p.m. Edited.

hungry000 says... #23

Carrion Feeder is better than Voracious Null 90% of the time, right? Especially if you add Lazotep Reaver and other things that make two+ bodies to sac. (Reaver is also good with Shepherd of Rot )

October 18, 2019 10:15 p.m.

ZendikariWol says... #24

Ghoulcaller's Chant is definitely almost always better than Macabre Waltz . If you want a madness package, definitely run waltz... looking into it, there may be a pretty solid madness deck in pauper. Unfortunately, it doesn't cross over much with Zombies. All in all, I'd stick with the Chant.

December 29, 2019 4:54 p.m.

HARDsofty says... #25

Any other thoughts on this deck? I could use more suggestions.

January 25, 2020 8:27 a.m.

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