TL;DR
Hyper-aggressive zombo tokens. Focus on buffing creatures to humongous proportions to get maximum output for Gisa's zombie factory. Pulled no punches on my best card draw and tutors (despite not having the fanciest ones). Description below for most of the individual cards. Skip it if you're not interested in my reasoning for each card, but I'm actually really proud with how this is coming along.
THE LONG PART
Cards are organized by usefulness categories (but you can just Ctrl+F to find specific ones)
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Card Draw:
Culling Dais
- Between this and
Carnage Altar
I prefer the one that's free to sac and refills the hand than expensive repetition. Transmutable by Shred Memory.
Greed
- Cheaper than Erebos, but costs more life and mana than Necropotence. However, lets you keep the draw phase. A nice medium. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Erebos, God of the Dead- a weaker
Greed
on a body. Devotion is easy to come by in monocolor, and his passive is surprisingly useful against massive lifegain opportunities from enemy Soul Wardens or Blood Artists. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Necropotence- refills your hand. A few cards in the deck can destroy permanents if you NEED to get rid of it, but you likely won't need to because life is like peanuts in EDH.
Phyrexian Arena- exceptional long-run advantage. Can't refill your hand like other cards, though.
Skullclamp- Oh my god why WOULDN'T you include this? It's +1 zombo per sac and TWO CARDS for 1 more mana!
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Ramp:
We don't need too much ramp as Gisa is cheap to use. As long as the mana curve is solid we're fine.
Charcoal Diamond
- cute but useful
Sol Ring- EDH staple
Crypt Ghast- all-around good. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Temple of the False God- one of my EDH staples
Everglades
- cute and useful
Cabal Coffers- monoblack staple
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Recursion:
Rise of the Dark Realms- trump card. You play this in the late game and possibilities are endless.
Animate Dead- a neat card. Transmutable by Shred Memory.
Zombie Apocalypse- a genocidal boardwipe AND I get my zombies back?? moar pls.
Ghoulcaller's Chant- two for one special on zombos.
Beacon of Unrest- works on any player's graveyard but also serves a tiny role against milling decks as an extra turn before you die.
Sheoldred, Whispering One- this deck capitalizes on forcing opponents to sacrifice creatures, so Sheoldred is a key player in that, as well as recurring Gisa's zombo-fodder.
Reassembling Skeleton- essentially a
Scathe Zombies
per turn; multiple if you have equipment on him. Transmutable by Shred Memory.
Nim Devourer
- A surprising number of artifacts in the deck makes this guy a zombie POWER PLANT. He can even Gravecrawler himself from the graveyard for 2 mana and a sac.
Phyrexian Delver- Reanimate on a creature, so you can sac it for three zombies if you can't use it very well.
Nether Traitor- a conditional, one-mana Reassembling Skeleton. Transmutable by Shred Memory.
Gravespawn Sovereign- the best recursion creature, especially if your opponents have big creatures in their graveyards: Reanimate a 5+ power creature, sac it to Gisa, get tokens, use tokens to get it again. Repeat multiple times with Thornbite Staff.
Gravedigger
- easy recursion. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Gravecrawler- yes.
Whip of Erebos
- some nice lifelink to pair with the Unearth effect. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
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Removal:
Relying on forced sacrifice over spot removal
Call to the Grave- The Abyss clone.
Dictate of Erebos- Grave Pact clone.
Grave Pact- My favorite card. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Syphon Flesh
- Diabolic Edicts with net gain of zombos.
Sheoldred, Whispering One- The Abyss on a body.
Slum Reaper
- net gain 3 zombies by sacking to Gisa after forcing opponents to sac zombies. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Noxious Ghoul- Would kill Gisa... but it's also a board wipe. So make it a LOT of zombies if you proc this.
Fleshbag Marauder- net gain 2 zombies by sacking to Gisa after forcing opponents to sac zombies.
Death Baron- Millions of 3/3 deathtouch zombos.
Butcher of Malakir- Grave Pact clone.
Spine of Ish Sah- Destroys permanents. Sac to Trading Post or
Mirrodin's Core
.
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Creature Buffs:
The art of making zombies. How big is the buff and how much it costs.
Barbed Battlegear
- +2 mana for +4 zombies.
Grafted Wargear- +0 mana for +3 zombies. Second best equipment in this deck.
Lashwrithe- +2 mana for +X (swamps) zombies. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Nightmare Lash
- -3 life for +X (swamps) zombies. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Nim Deathmantle- +4 mana for +2 zombies. Also recursion. Transmutable by Shred Memory.
Pennon Blade
- +4 mana for +X (creatures) zombies.
Skullclamp- +1 mana for +1 zombie. Also card draw.
Strata Scythe
- +3 mana for +X (swamps) zombies.
Undead Warchief- +2 zombies. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Death Baron- +1 zombie.
Lord of the Undead- +1 zombie.
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Trump Cards:
Casting these (and getting away with it) basically ensures victory.
Gempalm Polluter
- sneaky bugger. Only hurts one player, but it's also not a spell so only Stifle effects counter it.
Grave Titan- Wins games by existing. High damage, scary deathtouch, ETB, and on-attack abilities.
Gravespawn Sovereign- As mentioned in recursion this guy nets zombies, especially if you have Thornbite Staff out.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel- wins games by simply entering the battlefield.
Sheoldred, Whispering One- Slowly converts the boardstate to your control.
Sutured Ghoul
- lategame, he's either a giant threat, or a huge zombie converter via Gisa.
Zombie Trailblazer
- read as: "every other zombie is unblockable."
Whip of Erebos
- Seriously though I have won games off of the lifelink alone. And when you have infinite suicidal zombies it's precious. Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Thornbite Staff- Every time you use Gisa, she untaps to do it again. FOR ONE MANA EACH CYCLE. The most powerful equipment in the deck. Transmutable by Shred Memory.
Plague Wind- After casting this you win.
Rise of the Dark Realms- lategame punch in the face.
Endless Ranks of the Dead- if not dealt with, this guy gets out of hand. Assuming you have 8 zombies after playing and sacking a Grave Titan, you have 12 after one upkeep.
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Tutors:
Rune-Scarred Demon
Increasing Ambition
Diabolic Tutor Transmutable from Dimir House Guard.
Beseech the Queen
Shred Memory- transmutes for Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots,
Charcoal Diamond
,
Culling Dais
, Nim Deathmantle, Thornbite Staff, Reassembling Skeleton, Nether Traitor, and Animate Dead.
Dimir House Guard- transmutes for Lashwrithe,
Nightmare Lash
, Trading Post,
Whip of Erebos
, Erebos, God of the Dead,
Gravedigger
,
Slum Reaper
, Undead Warchief, Diabolic Tutor, Endless Ranks of the Dead, Grave Pact, and
Greed
.
