Your Grim is My Grin (Zombie Tribal)

Commander / EDH

hotaru91

Creature (37)

• 1x Abhorrent Overlord
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Corpse Connoisseur
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Custodi Lich
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Gempalm Polluter
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Gisa and Geralf
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gravedigger
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Haunted Dead
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Lich Lord of Unx
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Prized Amalgam
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Rotting Rats
• 1x Sedraxis Alchemist
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Stitcher Geralf
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Withered Wretch
• 1x Zombie Master
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (37)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x High Market
• 1x Island
• 1x Mutavault
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 15x Swamp
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (5)

• 1x Compelling Deterrence
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Veil

Commander (1)

Artifact (9)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rooftop Storm

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Profane Command

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Maybeboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Phenax, God of Deception
• 1x Scourge of Nel Toth
• 1x Soul of Innistrad

Land (4)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x River of Tears
• 1x Underground Sea

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This version is more focused on Zombie Tribal and reanimation.

Card Selection Breakdown:-

1. Zombie creature type matters

1.1 Zombie Anthems

• Diregraf Captain gives +1/+1 to Zombies you control.
• Cemetery Reaper gives +1/+1 to Zombies you control.
• Lord of the Accursed gives +1/+1 to Zombies you control.
• Undead Warchief gives +2/+1 to Zombies you control.
• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed gives +1/+1 to non-Humans you control (especially Zombies).

1.2 Zombie Casting Cost Reduction

• Undead Warchief reduces Zombie creature casting cost by .
• Rooftop Storm essentially makes all your Zombies FREEEEEEEEEEE

1.3 Zombie Creation

• Diregraf Colossus creates 2/2 Zombie tokens whenever a Zombie creature spell is cast.
• Endless Ranks of the Dead creates more Zombie tokens at the upkeep.
• Cemetery Reaper creates a 2/2 Zombie by exiling a creature card from a graveyard.
• Grave Titan creates 2 2/2 Zombie tokens when it enters the battlefield
• Cryptbreaker creates 2/2 Zombie if you pitch a card

1.4 Zombie Buff

• Lord of the Accursed can give all Zombies menace until end of turn.

2. Sacrifice

2.1 Sacrifice Enablers (or kills own creatures)

• Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• Sidisi, Undead Vizier, exploits a creature when ETB
• High Market
• Plague Belcher, ETB hitting any creature with toughness 2 or less
• Skullclamp, equipping any creature with toughness 1 and below
• Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• Abhorrent Overlord, at the beginning of your upkeep
• Westvale Abbey   transformation activation cost
• considering Carrion Feeder

2.2. Creatures to sacrifice. Untap the commander.

• Gravecrawler, in a deck like this, Gravecrawler is a super star.
• Prized Amalgam
• Geralf's Messenger, can technically be sacrificed twice if not interrupted, and incidentally, cause a net life loss of 4.
• Rotting Rats, Ruining each players' hand the moment it hits can be devastating. With Unearth, can technically use this as a sacrifice target twice.
• 2/2 Zombie tokens from Cryptbreaker Lich Lord of Unx, Diregraf Colossus, Haunted Dead, Drunau Corpse Trawler , Kalitas, Traitor of Geht, Endless Ranks of the Dead, Grave Titan, Army of the Damned.
• Token copy created from Mimic Vat
• Relentless Dead can recur itself back to the hand
• Haunted Dead creates a 1/1 Spirit token upon ETB
• Creatures who have undying, granted by mikaues, the unhallowed
• Tokens created by Abhorrent Overlord

2.3. Death Triggers. As a result of using the commander's ability.

• Life loss against opponents, see Blood Artist, Diregraf Captain, Plague Belcher and Zulaport Cutthroat.
• Card draw, if the creature was equipped with Skullclamp
• Each opponent sacrifices a creature. See Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos.
• Creates token which is a copy of the dead creatures. See Mimic Vat.
• Gain energy for recursion (see Demon of Dark Schemes)
• Return a Zombie from the graveyard to the battlefield Relentless Dead.

3. Utility

3.1. Card Draw and Scry (card advantage)

• Skullclamp, upon equipped creature dying
• Cryptbreaker, upon tapping 3 untapped Zombies.
• Phyrexian Arena, at the beginning of my upkeep.
• Graveborn Muse, at the beginning of my upkeep, depending on how many Zombies I control.
• Thassa, God of the Sea - scry 1 at the beginning of your upkeep
• Forbidden Alchemy
• Ancient Excavation

3.2. Removal

3.2.1. Targeted removal against creatures

• Hero's Downfall
• Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• Profane Command

3.2.2. Forcing opponents to sacrifice creatures

• Fleshbag Marauder
• Grave Pact
• Dictate of Erebos
• Sheoldred, Whispering One
• Liliana of the Veil

3.2.3. Board wipe against creatures

• Damnation
• Demon of Dark Schemes as a soft board wipe

3.2.4. Targeted removal against non-creatures

• Sedraxis Alchemist return to the hand
• Compelling Deterrence return to the hand
• Cyclonic Rift without Overload

3.2.4. One-sided board wipe

• Cyclonic Rift with Overload

3.3. Mana Ramp / fixing

• Sol Ring
• Dimir Signet
• Talisman of Dominance
• Sword of the Animist
• Fellwar Stone
• Ancient Excavation - basic land cycling

3.4. Tutor

• Vampiric Tutor to the top of the library
• Sidisi, Undead Vizier to the hand, upon Exploiting a creature
• Corpse Connoisseur to the graveyard

3.5 Recursion

Built-in Recursion

• Gravecrawler
• Relentless Dead
• Rotting Rats
• Prized Amalgam is conditional upon the recursion of another creature from your graveyard (can be triggered from Unearth by corpse connoiseur and Rotting Rats, Gravecrawler, Haunted Dead, Relentless Dead, Demon of Dark Schemes)
• Haunted Dead
• Dread Wanderer

Recurs others

To the Battlefield

• Gisa and Geralf recurs Zombies only.
• Sheoldred, Whispering One at the beginning of your upkeep.
• Profane Command.
• Phyrexian Delver.
• Havengul Lich, remember that you can hit your opponents' graveyards too!
• Whip of Erebos, one use only.
• Relentless Dead recurs other Zombies.

To the Hand

• Gravedigger
• Possessed Skaab - can return instants and sorceries to the hand as well

To the top of the library

• Unholy Grotto

3.6 Graveyard control

Targeted

• Withered Wretch exiles target creature card from a graveyard
• Cemetery Reaper creates a 2/2 Zombie by exiling a creature card from a graveyard.

Exiles target player's graveyard

• Bojuka Bog

Exiled instead of death

• Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• Mimic Vat

3.7 Protection

• Shroud Lightning Greaves
• Regeneration Zombie Master
• Destroys opposing Humans who attacks you Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

3.8 Clone Effects

Phantasmal Image, good targets include Grave Titan, Geralf's Messenger. Copying a Gray Merchant of Asphodel can potentially close games with the ridiculous life

3.9 Discard enablers

• Geier Reach Sanitarium
• Liliana of the Veil
• Rotting Rats
• Haunted Dead
• Cryptbreaker

3.10 Lifegain

• Whip of Erebos
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• Zulaport Cuttthroat
• Blood Artist

3.11 Tap or Untap another permanent

• Fatestitcher

7. Finishers

Life-loss

• Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat
• Geralf's Messenger
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• Lich Lord of Unx
• Profane Command

Unblockable Zombies

• Profane Command - fear
• Rogue's Passage
• Thassa, God of the Sea

Mill

• Lich Lord of Unx

• Army of the Damned

• Mimic Vat, select a creature you want imprinted on it via Grimgrin's sacrifice ability. Also puts other opponents sacrifice shenanigans to a slow down, as they will need to carefuly consider what they will allow to be imprinted ont he Mimic Vat. Gray Merchant of Asphodel can close games quickly with the deck's high devotion to black. Other reasonable imprint targets include Grave Titan, Abhorrent Overlord and Fleshbag Marauder (for removing opponent's creatures if they get in the way, or for more life loss death triggers).

• Unblockable enablers: Aqueous Form, Rogue's Passage, Thassa, God of the Sea. An unblockable Grimgrin is no laughing matter.

8. Combos

• Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler + one of the life loss triggers (Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble and Zulaport Cutthroat) = each opponent life can be drained to zero.
• Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler + Phenax, God of Deception = each opponent can be milled / decked to zero cards by tapping and untapping grimgrin like a madman.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.56
Tokens	Harpy 1/1 B, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Spirit 1/1 W, The Monarch, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Wizard 1/1 UB, Zombie X/X U