Grixis Zombie Madness

Commander / EDH* Tribal UBR (Grixis) Zombie

dlaxw7

Land (38)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x High Market
• 3x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Planeswalker (4)

• 1x Karn Liberated
• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
• 1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Creature (28)

• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Gisa and Geralf
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Marchesa, the Black Rose
• 1x Metallic Mimic
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal
• 1x Nightscape Familiar
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Withered Wretch

Instant (5)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Kolaghan's Command

Commander (1)

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Hour of Devastation
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vandalblast

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Rooftop Storm

Artifact (8)

• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Vorrac Battlehorns
• 1x Whip of Erebos

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Maybeboard

Creature (9)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Dread Wanderer
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Lich Lord of Unx
• 1x Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Sedraxis Alchemist
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Tsabo Tavoc

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Dark Intimations
• 1x Dark Salvation
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Artifact (4)

• 1x Argentum Armor
• 1x Haunted Cloak
• 1x Nim Deathmantle
• 1x Vedalken Orrery

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Aggravated Assault
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Warstorm Surge

Instant (1)

• 1x Brainstorm

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I've always wanted to make a 3 color zombie tribal deck that was close to 100% on theme. Thrax seemed like the ideal candidate to do so, so here it is.

The Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar interaction is one of my favorite combos in the game, so I wanted a lot of my wincons to revolve around it. As such, I've included both Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge in addition to the in theme Diregraf Captain. To piggyback off of those cards, I've also tried to include a solid amount of token generation from the likes of Diregraf Colossus, Cryptbreaker , Endless Ranks of the Dead , and Grave Titan.

To explain some of my non-zombie additions;

Crypt Ghast: Its a spirit, so its kind of undead... right? But seriously, the ramp that this guy gives me is awesome, especially since I'm running a decent number of swamps and Urborg.

Gisa and Geralf: Yeah, they aren't zombies, but they're clearly meant for zombie tribal. I've considered adding their individual cards as well.

Grave Titan: Why he isn't a zombie himself is beyond me. I guess he would just be too good then. You get 10 power minimum from him off of EtB for 6, which is solid by itself, nevermind if you've got Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and a free sac outlet. I've really been considering picking up a Nim Deathmantle for infinite zombie tokens with Ashnod's Altar.

Liliana of the Dark Realms: Same sort of idea as Gisa and Geralf, she is the queen necromancer.

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh: He's one of the only blatantly un-zombie-like cards in here, but is essentially the only way I can deal with enchantments and artifacts in Grixis colors, and things like Leyline of the Void and Rest in Peace give me nightmares. Plus he controls zombies and the undead in the lore, so he's got that going for him. The Pharaoh version is just devastating in multiplayer. Most of the time you can just use his +1 to nuke your opponents' hands and get rid of all their answers before resolving Thraximundar.

Purphoros, God of the Forge: Since it is almost impossible for him to actually become a creature with how little red devotion I have in this deck, I'm just going to consider this guy an enchantment. My other option (which would be on flavor) would be Vengeful Dead , but Purphoros is just flat out better in just about every way.

Sadistic Hypnotist: Again, really off flavor, but has a really powerful sac effect to attack someone's hand if they could potentially be packing the hated Rest in Peace or Leyline. Coupled with the handful of bounce cards I have in here it can save me in the event that one of them resolves. Not 100% sold on this guy, and I previously had Mind Slash in its place.

Karn Liberated: Just another answer to all the grave hate running around.

I'm liking the way it plays so far, but my early game leaves a little to be desired. I also feel like I could fit in a few more stupid combos with the addition of cards like Exsanguinate, Dark Salvation, and Nim Deathmantle, but I'm unsure of what to cut for those additions. I would kind of like to toss in Yawgmoth's Will as well, but again, cuts are really tough for me.

Now that Planeswalkers have been made Legendary, I'm considering tossing in Tsabo Tavoc to give me some recurring planeswalker removal to deal with those annoying superfriend decks (damn you Atraxa). The rule change also allows me to play both Nicol Bolas planeswalkers at the same time, which seems unbelievably brutal.

Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome as long as they're at least remotely on theme or help me plug up some of my weaknesses.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.58
Tokens	Copy Clone, Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	RUB Zombie, interesting
Based on	B/U Zombies Pool dlaxw7 EDH