So I know the Walking Dead Crossover is really controversial, and I really understand that people are pissed off about the way it was done. I did not think about stuff like that when I had a first look at the cards and just got excited about the way the characters were realised, so I ordered them. I am not looking for discussions about wether all that stuff is a good or bad thing, as I said I understand why people think that these cards should not have been sold in the way they were, and I am not a Fan of that either.
That being said, I am really excited about this decklist, because I never played or build anything like this before. Apart from liking Daryl as a Character, I like the Idea of an archer-style Deck.
So Daryl himself makes Zombies for one target opponent, to kill them with his tap ability and make me draw cards from it. Three Zombies per turn seems a lot at first sight, so I put in several cards to untap him: Instill Energy, Magewright's Stone, Puppet Strings, Seeker of Skybreak and Thousand-Year Elixir can be tapped to do that, while Staff of Domination does even more than that. Illusionist's Bracers lets me just shoot two creatures for one tap and Awakening, Seedborn Muse and Quest for Renewal let me untap creatures during my opponents turn, so the more opponents I have, the better. Quirion Ranger can also be handy.
But we don't want to shoot only those Zombies and also we need to asure that Anthem Effects do not prevent us from killing them. So giving Daryl Deathtouch seems nice. Basilisk Collar, Gorgon Flail, Gorgon's Head, Nightshade Peddler and Quietus Spike do that. So far those are the only possibilities I found in Red-Green, so if you have more, suggestions are appreciated ;) Now we got that done, why not put in a Thornbite Staff to let Daryl untap every time he kills something and why not put in some more pingers like Goblin Sharpshooter (I'm really excited about giving deathtouch to that one ;), Cunning Sparkmage and Vithian Stinger that can also make good use of that.
To give Daryl some time to shoot at other Stuff, I looked for ways to kill those Zombie Tokens in other ways and found AEther Flash. While potentially dangerous, it kills them when they etb and just lets me draw four cards total at the beginning of my turn. Engineered Explosives, Powder Keg, and Ratchet Bomb are supposed to be sacrificed with no counters on them, so they kill everything at CMC 0. Also there is a Buried Ruin to potentially reuse those. Steel Hellkite works similar to that, but is reusable itself. Earthquake is another possibility to get rid of Stuff, while also giving me the opportunity to kill opponents with it.
To ensure those Pingers don't get killed, I have the usual Swiftfoot Boots and Mask of Avacyn. I was not too excited to add those in, because they kind of go in every single EDH Deck I build, but they just help.
Rampwise I concentrated on ManaRocks that I can play at turn two, so I can potentially play Daryl on turn 3. Also there is Stuff that lets me play more lands per turn (Gaea's Touch, Mina and Denn, Wildborn, Sakura-Tribe Scout, Skyshroud Ranger, Terrain Generator), because I assume that I will be drawing a lot of cards. In this section we also find Zhur-Taa Druid, who just fits in the Theme.
For Removal I just added some flexible ways to deal with threats that are not creatures, like Acidic Slime, Beast Within, Nature's Claim and Reclamation Sage.
Assuming that I will draw a lot of cards in this Deck, There are a Reliquary Tower and Crop Rotation, Expedition Map and Sylvan Scrying to tutor it, as well as Thought Vessel.
So shooting stuff IS fun, but of course we need ways to get some extra mileage out of that. Dingus Staff triggers on that and damages the controllers of those creatures. I am pretty excited to see what that does combined with Chandra's Incinerator. Greatbow Doyen works similar to the Staff and -as a bonus- pumps Daryl's Stats. Brash Taunter and Stuffy Doll simply give me the opportunity to redirect Daryl's Pings to the opponents face, while I am not too sure about how useful this is going to be. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, Quest for Pure Flame, Gratuitous Violence and Fiery Emancipation's purposes are obviously to raise the damage output of the pingers. Burning Sands seems potentially dangerous, but really tempting and I think i will be capable of letting it work in my favor, if I manage to use it at the right time.
Irencrag Pyromancer, Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse, Mad Ratter and Psychosis Crawler reward me additionally for drawing. Inferno Titan adds in some Damage, and I am also looking forward to give deathtouch to him. Polyraptor is a card I always wanted to play, and Pingers seem to work fine with it. Essence Warden should give me at least 3 life per turn.
Landwise I put in the not-that-pricy Duallands as well as Arcane Lighthouse and Detection Tower to be able to shoot stuff that I usually couldn't.
I still am above a 100 cards so suggestions for good cuts are appreciated. Also, while I am pretty sure this Deck is going to be good at shooting Stuff I am not too sure how capable it is going to be of winning, so opinions on that are welcome as well.
