Dralnu, Lich Lord or Havengul Lich?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Sept. 22, 2014, 12:31 p.m. by Sloanan
Taming Some Strain Playtest
Casual*
SCORE: 1 | 2 COMMENTS | 90 VIEWSSo I'm running a BUG Zombie tribal deck. It's still in rough draft mode and I'm trying to work out a few concerns with it.
Firstly, I currently have Havengul Lich as my B/U 5-drop. However, I'm considering swapping him out for Dralnu, Lich Lord because I think giving my spells flashback might be more useful than casting a creature in my graveyard (let's say I accidentally Traumatize both of my Living Death - Easily fixed with Dralnu out, and I can also reuse my removals & Lead the Stampede ).
At the same time, casting a creature from my graveyard would be useful in this deck, especially if I can get Rooftop Storm out (I prefer to combo it w/ Gravecrawler and Diregraf Captain , but mixing it with Havengul Lich returns any creature in my graveyard to the field for 1).
Which seems more efficient? Should I run both? Neither? What say you?
Also, any help, particularly with the sideboard and what-have-you, is appreciated.
zyphermage says... #3
Also just realized, the activated abilities that Havengul Lich can use. It currently has the potential in your deck to gain B: regenerate, or Carrion Feeder abilitiy also.
September 22, 2014 2:01 p.m.
Sounds like Havengul is the way to go. If I cut Traumatize, what would you suggest? It was mostly there to fill my own graveyard so I can Living Death for the win OR to combo with Vulturous Zombie for a Ridiculously huge flyer, but I'm always open to changes.
September 22, 2014 2:38 p.m.
zyphermage says... #6
Yeah I see that you are trying to buff Vulturous Zombie . I just think lower cost zombies would be better. If you are trying to go that route Bad Moon isn't really necessary. But with Bad Moon , you do want something like tokens/cheap zombies. You could check out Army of Darkness , which is a zombie commander deck I am working on for some zombie ideas. I left plenty of material in the side/maybe for reference. I'm not sure I like Living Death necessarily either. Maybe it is ok to leave 1 in, you may have it in hand but not much to work with in the yard. Or if you play it in g1, your game 2 it will be hated out before you get to drop enough lands. I would go to 1 and add another Abrupt Decay . Maybe even throw in 3 discard spells since that is one of the only ways black has to combat control/combo decks. You also have blue maybe some counterspells.
September 22, 2014 2:52 p.m.
Yeah, valid points. So let's say I take out 2x Traumatize and 1x Living Death . As you're saying, I have a few options, one of which is a little different from what you're suggesting:
I have 2 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave that I would LOVE to put in here because it'd lower my deck's CMC and give me a meaty little fella, but I'm not seeing much in the way of giving him counters, so if I did that, I'd need to put some sort of counter growing method in there for him, which, if you can think of any cheap ways to do so, I'm all ears.
I also have a playset of Hymn to Tourach which would do wonders against control and such. (I'd only use 3, but still).
I have a bevy of counterspells as well, so I could squeeze some in there if need be. Maybe Countersquall ?
Finally, I have more Abrupt Decays to throw in there, which could always work.
I suppose if I take out my milling stuff, should Vulturous Zombie
go as well?
September 22, 2014 4:22 p.m.
10vernothin says... #8
Instead of traumatize, you should put in tunnel vision
September 22, 2014 4:48 p.m.
TelleoStar says... #9
Or Endless Ranks of the Dead - amazing in zombie tribal.
Also, Havengul Runebinder or Cemetery Reaper
September 22, 2014 7:25 p.m.
zyphermage says... #10
No I don't think Vulturous Zombie should go. It is still a flying zombie that has a decent body especially if at least 2 cards have been put into their yard or more. It just wasn't really necessary to use milling to buff it, since milling is a win con all on its own.. Mill decks often don't even use Traumatize . It can get bigger just by removing permanents, discarding their cards, or countering. You could add that Skullbriar, the Walking Grave but I think your creature count is fine, might even go down to 20. You might need to tighten the zombie list down maybe. Graveborn Muse I can see be really good, but you might die from the first upkeep with it too. It looks more like a commander card to me than constructed unless you are lifegaining. Maybe add more lord effects, you already got Diregraf Captain and Undead Warchief , I would just max those out maybe even adding a Death Baron which happens to not be a cheap card for obvious reasons. Like I said before you could check out my zombie commander deck for ideas on zombies, I got most of them listed. I feel like I exhausted a lot of cards to get down to the ones I did on it. Then again I didn't consider green/black but it looks like the ones you got are ones I would of used also.
September 22, 2014 9:01 p.m.
Mkay, so I adjusted the deck - Took out what you suggested and swapped in some more Captains, some Hymn to Tourach , another Abrupt Decay , and 2 Mana Leak . Definitely makes the deck faster, so thanks for that!
zyphermage says... #2
I think Dralnu, Lich Lord is not as good or what you want to be doing with zombies over Havengul Lich . You said it yourself you want to flashback cards that bring zombies back. Also one has to tap whereas the other is just pay 1 mana, so 1 can use its ability immediately where the other has to wait for sickness fall off. So basically you can recast any zombie in the yard for only 1 more mana than it would normally cost, unless you got Rooftop Storm out then it's just 1. If you need any more convincing at least use the one with a better body. You could just use a Snapcaster Mage for what you want. Also adding an opinion here, cut Traumatize . I would also lower your CMC of your deck and throw in a way to make zombie tokens.
September 22, 2014 1:57 p.m.