This was really my first ever deck I built. Upon playing MTG for a couple months it became clear that I was a black player. I wanted a deck to best represent this so I first jumped to Zombie Tribal (If you take a look at my other decks I soon realised I was a tribal player as well). This started by rounding up all the mono black zombie cards I had accumulated and shoving them together like some half assed necromancy job. Soon after many games I began to chip away to shape a more structured and effective zombie deck. Thanks to the input from friends this became a rather powerful deck in our early days of playing, but since we have all become more seasoned players, our decks have become better and required me to take a closer look at my favourite creation.
The main goal of this deck is to amass a strong steady army of dead to hold their ground and swing when I command. There are cards to help knock down our opponents and the sideboard is designed to hopefully deal with a selection of different archetypes.
Any comments and suggestions are incredibly helpful and no suggestion is ever stupid as I will take it into heavy consideration and even try it out to see how it runs.
A justification and explanation of the cards can be found bellow incase any choices might stand out as odd.
Creatures
Death Baron: This growling zombie speaks for himself. Turn 3, drop this guy and your turn one Gravecrawler and turn two Relentless Dead get buffed and gain deathtouch. As far as zombie lords go, hes unmatched, by forcing your opponent to think more than usual about attacking or blocking these pesky deathtouch creatures.
Gravecrawler: Back when I first made this deck, the 1 drop was
Shambling Goblin
, solid entry level zombie for any tribal beginners. However, if your budget allows, there is no better turn one than this guy, a solid 2/1 than can bounce back from your graveyard is an instant mainboard. He works perfectly with Bone Splinters as he can instantly come back or sit waiting patiently in the grave for his big comeback. A simple 1 drop that when tied with the lords and other shenanigans can become a lethal hitter.
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
: My boy, my main man. This guy is a monster. A 4 drop (or less) which comes in as powerful as your land base allows him to be. Grandeur is a great ability as it enables you to do something with those extra legendary cards in hand you cant cast. Cast him, hes say a 5/5? He then gets buffed by your lords and then you proceed to go throw another copy of him into the graveyard to increase his power even more and give yourself some extra land for your following turn. All of this is great and then you add on he can regenerate himself so if you opponent tries some combat trickery or straight up removal, he has built in protection.
Lord of the Undead
: Yet another 3 drop lord. He buffs and retrieves any fallen zombie you may have lost in your graveyard. He is one of the slower cards in the deck but useful none the less. If you can afford to then you can even use Korlash ability, bring that discarded copy back with lord of the undead and discard it all over again for some extra fun. When needed to, he can be a solid blocker or even attacker if you are sure enough on what you opponent can do.
Relentless Dead: When this card was spoiled I cried a little. Since his release, this card has appeared in numerous top zombie tribal decks and its obvious why. A 2 drop 2/2 with menace? yes please. A 2 drop 2/2 with the ability to save himself? yes please. A 2 drop 2/2 with the ability to retrieve other creatures from the graveyard? yes please. Then add on all the buffing he will get from Lords and he becomes an absolute powerhouse. Another great target for Bone Splinters, not as amazing as Gravecrawler but still great synergy.
Undead Warchief
: Previously the mythic
Risen Executioner
( a great zombie solid, brings himself back and buffs creatures with the downside of not blocking). As good as Executioner was, Undead Warchief reduces the cost of our lords and Korlash, buffs them up an insane +2/+1?! and can actually block any aggressive decks. A solid uncommon that should definitely have been in the mainboard sooner.
Sorceries
Bone Splinters: Mana efficiency over anything else with this card. 1 mana for removal without limits? This card isnt for every deck but zombies love it. Great synergy with Gravecrawler and Relentless Dead. Be sure to attack first (if possible) before using this card, wouldnt want a 4/3 deathtouch gravecrawler not doing any damage before being sacrificed. In most cases, if the creature you will sacrifice has deathtouch, its always good to attack first on the off chance they block and you get a free kill anyway without using up your bone splinters.
Sign in Blood: Replacing Altar's Reap, id rather lose the 2 life and draw cards than ditch one of my attackers/blockers for some card advantage. With bone splinters, you are addressing a larger threat that you cant have lingering around, but card advantage is not really as important. Saving the life of one of your creatures should hopefully keep the momentum going that the 2 life you take shouldnt be too much of a problem. Also for mono black, Sign in Blood is better than Night's Whisper as if you really want to, you can use it on your opponents to reduce that last bit of life they might have or you can help out a team mate in team based formats.
Thoughtseize: One of the two best discard cards you can get. Inquisition of Kozilek tends to be a favourite in a lot of modern decks due to the low mana curve the format tends to have, but, due to my playgroup there are certain cards in decks that Inquisition cant get around. Thoughtseize again requires that 2 life from you but would you rather lose 2 life or face down some stupidly strong planeswalker or annoying enchantment you cant remove? A solid card if your budget can stretch for it.
Land
Cavern of Souls: This stupidly expensive tribal land might see better use in a dual or triple coloured deck but the use in mono is not wasted. Choose Zombie and youre laughing, no longer shall your zombies needlessly rise from the grave to only be shoved back down. So tell your blue control friend to get lost with this land.
Mutavault: A land that when need can turn into a strong zombie? This is getting used and it will be used well. If you need that extra attacker to just finish off your opponent then you have a land creature at your side. It is easily forgettable for when opponents are calculating attack damage or the blockers you have so it can be a nice little surprise for them.
Swamp: Well yeh, youre gonna need these.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: This land will help out with those double black mana costs if you are stuck with a mutavault or a cavern when trying to cast a sign in blood. It also has the upside of making those other lands count toward Korlash power which is always nice.
Planeswalker
Liliana, the Last Hope: She is a beauty, early game play, protecting herself relatively well with her +1, bringing back a useful lord or Korlash with her -2 and then if possible, you get the hilarity of hitting her -7 and bring on the zombie apocalypse. Currently an expensive card and not vital to the deck but would recommend if possible, I was lucky enough to open two from packs and traded a friend for another one. She is the queen of zombies and I like to think Ive built her a fitting army to command with this deck.
Sideboard
Bile Blight: Shove in the deck instead of Bone Splinters to combat token swarm or indestructible creatures. Very simple and effective card.
Darkness
: Great one drop in black that can be sideboarded in against fast aggro decks, or even token swarming. A well timed darkness can just give you the amount of time needed to rally your troops to swing for lethal or find that much needed Bile Blight.
Extirpate: If you come against any decks that have one win condition then this is your answer. Together with Thoughtseize you can fish out a specific card from their graveyard giving you hassle and remove it completely from the game. Due to this card having split second, that stops it being countered which will help even more.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel: This card increases your mana curve by the slightest amount but oh boy its worth it. Sideboard in against life gain decks to steal some of their life for yourself or even throw it in to hopefully end the game when it drops. Running one as you shouldnt be reliant on it too much to win but its nice to know the option will show up. Using this card against multiple opponents is sure to annoy them as they watch their life totals decrease and yours double.
Phyrexian Crusader
: First strike zombie that will end up ideally having a decent power and toughness is a solid. The protection from white is solid as it gets around modern staples such as Path to Exile. Protection from red is also great for burn decks running Lighting Bolt. The icing on the cake is Infect, this will bring down any stupidly large green creature you come up against and then also deals with pesky lifegain decks that are getting a bit too big.
Stillmoon Cavalier
: Similar to
Phyrexian Crusader
or
Stromgald Crusader
, this zombie has many utilities. It can be buffed as much as your mana allows with its last ability, you can create the deadly combo of first strike and deathtouch if you need to or you can fly over the top of you opponents hitting them straight in the face. Flying is really the most effective one here, something zombie decks tend to struggle with is the odd flying dragon now and then. All of this and then it has protection from white and black, white is the same as above and of course protection from black makes for a deadly creature against any black kill deck. This is a great creature and when sideboarded in can obviously become bigger and even cost only 2 mana with
Undead Warchief
!
