Coffin Queen

Creature — Zombie Wizard

You may choose not to untap Coffin Queen during your untap step.

{2}{B}, {T}: Put target creature card from a graveyard into play under your control. When Coffin Queen becomes untapped or you lose control of Coffin Queen, exile that creature.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

DreadKhan on Meren

4 months ago

I suspect you've probably got enough creatures to look at Lurking Predators, it's ramp and card draw rolled into one package, you just need to run a lot of creatures. If you like big reanimation effects their is Grave Betrayal, this loves your various forced sacrifice effects. Coffin Queen and Hell's Caretaker are some lower to the ground reanimators that might be interesting, Queen can also reanimate your opponent's stuff. Demon of Dark Schemes is a weird recursion option, though it can go infinite, usually with creatures that make tokens via ETB. I've always loved having stuff like Dawntreader Elk and Diligent Farmhand in my Meren deck, they find a land without further input and end up in the graveyard when they do it, so you can recur them if that's the best option. I like Silverglade Pathfinder as both a clunky source of ramp that lets you discard creatures, it might not be powerful enough for your build though!

DreadKhan on Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

6 months ago

I've always loved Mazirek, such a cool Commander! I think Make an Example would probably do some work in here, and it's little brother Do or Die would probably be decent as well.

Mitotic Slime is a good source of creatures-from-a-creature, the only ones that can compete are cards like Underworld Hermit, which makes an army of squirrels equal to your devotion to Black. There are things like Grismold, the Dreadsower that can make a lot of bodies (it gives them to opponents as well, but if you can force them to sacrifice those tokens both Grismold and Mazirek go nuts), Grismold even offers a backup Commander of a sort for long games when you might not be able to recast Mazirek.

I'm not sure if you're interested in reanimation effects, but Hell's Caretaker is a free sac each upkeep, and he can bring back your best creature in exchange for your worst. Coffin Queen can reanimate from any graveyard, but it's especially useful to reanimate your opponent's stuff because it gets exiled when it dies. If you want a repeatable reanimation effect there is Demon of Dark Schemes, this offers a small wipe and it works very well with Pitiless Plunderer and something like the aforementioned Mitotic Slime.

Since your Commander cares about sacrifice effects, have you thought about using Diligent Farmhand and Dawntreader Elk in here? There is also Burnished Hart, all of these ramp you and can trigger Mazirek if he's out. There is also Ordeal of Nylea that would work with Mazirek later game (or anything that can get in early). I'm not sure if it comes up very much, but I put Forsworn Paladin in my Golgari deck because it had Haakon, but what I noticed was that it's also a useful way to ramp in Black, which importantly can fix your mana (to let you cast Green ramp), it's very low to the ground and can generate triggers for Mazirek or help recast Mazirek later.

Have you ever tried Sadistic Hypnotist? This offers a free and infinite sac outlet, and the effect can be pretty strong if you've got a bunch of creatures to burn through. Another really versatile sac outlet is Infernal Tribute, this lets you sacrifice any non-token permanent (it has to be an actual card) to draw a new card. I'm not 100% on it being a fit, but Savra, Queen of the Golgari is a pretty impressive payoff if you regularly have creatures being sacrificed, it can put a lot of pressure on an opponent's board.

It can get very out of hand with Mazirek, but I feel like I have to mention One with the Kami, it's very good on Mazirek with a free sac outlet. Similarly any creatures you can find with Persist will work very well with Mazirek and sac outlets, though again, this might be more pushed than what you're looking for. I took a gander and Aerie Ouphes might be interesting, and there is always Woodfall Primus, these might help support your Puppeteers!

If you ever want to throw in something pricier, I think Old Gnawbone would be absolutely hilarious in here.

DreadKhan on Merieke Ri Berit, Manipulator of the Stack

9 months ago

Have you considered some sac outlets that stick around? Altar of Bhaal is pretty good recursion if you can consistently steal a creature somehow. Helm of Possession would be pretty funny, it's both a sac outlet and a theft effect. Another one-shot theft effect and sac outlet combination is Ritual of the Machine. I assume Preacher isn't in here because of it's high price? It's more of a 1v1 card, but it can be a really nasty card vs people running few creatures, but it is legit terrible vs token decks, it's a weirder Oppressor. Probably the same for Mind Over Matter, it's pricey but a very good trick to have. Coffin Queen is another nice recursion option, the ability to steal from from other people's graveyard for almost no mana can be really powerful.

You run a reasonable number of very good enchantments of 3 mana or less, have you thought about Zur the Enchanter? Perhaps you don't run tutors in your meta, some groups don't like them in Commander.

DreadKhan on F*** Kevin

9 months ago

Any reason you don't run Meren of Clan Nel Toth in here? You don't lose XP counters when she dies, so you can just recur her with your Commander. You could also try out Coffin Queen and Hell's Caretaker to get more recursion in. Repeatable recursion makes things like Merciless Executioner pop in my experience. Not sure how much you get targeted, but Dawnstrider is a nice second Spore Frog, Dawnstrider is also a discard outlet.

I playtested this vs one of my more salty decks, it doesn't feel too oppressive to play against. I actually think your friend should build a deck designed to tweak your nose back if he feels triggered by your deck! The best way to learn to appreciate a deck or play style is to try it out yourself, obvious exceptions abound but I think there's a kernel of truth. I thought Chaos decks were always a bad thing, but when I decided to throw some Chaotic cards into a deck it worked out very well, and now I enjoy a boarder spectrum of Magic games.

DreadKhan on Misappropriation of funds

1 year ago

Not sure if Springleaf Drum would work in here? Your Commander comes out quite early and doesn't tap to use his ability, also useful if you steal a creature or make a small token.

If you end up using Tymaret's ability a fair bit, some Lifelink might be nice since it's damage, Mask of Griselbrand seems like a fit (great if your Commander dies a lot), possibly Basilisk Collar. Either of those is also quite good with Rite of the Raging Storm, and if it's not killed you can sacrifice the token with your Commander each turn (same if a 5/1 trample is useless otherwise). Another great sacrifice source could be Ophiomancer (but it's a bit pricey), or Ogre Slumlord, which can make a ton of bodies in some matches. Sifter of Skulls is a budget pawn of ulamog, not sure if you want both (but I think I would).

If you're using Crux of Fate, I feel like you should consider Sarkhan the Masterless, it's Dragon tokens will dodge the wipe, and he can make you harder to attack if you have a few Dragons out.

If you like a land that can make a creature, there are also Kher Keep and Springjack Pasture, both make 0/1s, but they are technically bodies.

It's an old/weird card, but Kyren Negotiations has some synergy with your Commander, it turns any creatures you have out into damage sources, even if they can't attack, handy to use before sacrificing something maybe?

Whenever I see Whisper, it makes me think of Hell's Caretaker, Caretaker is more awkward timing-wise, but it's also only 1 for 1. I really love Coffin Queen, especially to reanimate opponent's stuff, but she is a bit pricey.

Since your Commander is a Zombie, have you thought about using Gravecrawler? If you have enough support, you could make your Commander into an infinite combo, but I think even if you just cast Gravecrawler 2 or 3 times a turn you're probably not doing too badly? The fact that it's not a token means it'll work with Pawn or Sifter of Skulls, and Bog Initiate can turn their mana into Black, so you can recast Gravecrawler at least. Defiler of Flesh can also help recast Gravecrawler (or any other Black permanent).

philsonwilson on Witch's Brew

1 year ago

Chaddish it hasn't been optimised as my partner hasn't figured out what she likes/dislikes about it yet, and as it's her first EDH deck it's not going to be super competitive yet. As well as that, it's more of a social deck too.

That being said, there are a couple of wincons. The less obivous and more difficult is draining your opponents out,Cauldron Familiar doesn't target so you can start the incremental damage there. If you're smart with the curses, Trespasser's Curse, Curse of Fool's Wisdom and a flipped Accursed Witch  ^Flip can start to add up. Torment of Scarabs and Cruel Reality can help here too but are reliant on them not wanting to lose resources, but that can still be helpful. Leechridden Swamp can add to this total too.

The clearest would be creature beatdown, 3/3 Demons from Tasha, the Witch Queen. It relies on opponents dealing damage to other opponents usually, but our playgroup is quite creature centric anyway. The curses can help here too; Curse of the Restless Dead, and Curse of Disturbance give you (and opponents) extra Zombies to push through some damage.

The most fun but least consistent way of winning is the wincons not in your deck - taking them via Tasha or other stealing means. A particular favourite of mine was Coffin Queen resurrecting a Gray Merchant of Asphodel for a double kill.

That being said, this deck is still in the early stages and will change over time - mostly as my partner figures out the way she wants to play the deck. At the moment it's a casual flavourful start, but I'll keep updating it as it gets more competitive too.

DreadKhan on

1 year ago

I can't really decide if you've got enough Evasives so I'll leave it up to you, but I run Strixhaven Stadium without a great deal of them as a closer. I feel like the potential to end a player if you can sneak in with a bunch of weenies is pretty reasonable upside on a mana rock.

Mesmeric Orb is a pretty good way to mill a ton of cards potentially, which should hurt other people more than you. Court of Cunning synergizes with the evasive Rogues you have while also potentially milling people a bunch. Also, if you're going to Mill people a lot, maybe Coffin Queen? Free bodies that you can afford to throw away every turn might work.

I could be wrong, but with this many relatively small creatures, would War Tax or Propaganda fit? War Tax is probably the stronger card, since you can use it on anyone's turn to just stop attacking if they won't agree to your terms, it's very easy to make it impractical to swing for most decks. Propaganda has a higher floor I'd say, but a much lower ceiling is my issue, it does one thing very well, War Tax can protect anyone, or hinder any deck reliant on attacking.

DreadKhan on Discarded Treachery

1 year ago

I always like effects like Bottomless Pit and Necrogen Mists when I'm building a discard deck, these clear out a ton of cards over time, and even one will quickly make it very hard to keep any cards in hand past upkeeps. There is also Cunning Lethemancer, Necrogoyf, Stronghold Rats and maybe Raiders' Wake if you think you can count on being able to swing at someone. I like these effects more as a way to keep opponent's hands extremely small, they play more like a Stax effect in many ways. They play well with the 'cares about hand size' effects as well as 'cares about discard' effects, and as noted, make it very hard for people to store cards. Other than stuff like Mind Twist and Hymn to Tourach, I don't find single target discard is reliable at keeping hands small, 'engine' enchantments always felt really good.

Have you considered Helm of Possession and Ritual of the Machine, both can do great work in a sacrifice deck that can afford to lose a creature to steal something much juicier. I think Helm is usually the stronger card if people can't blow it up right away, but Ritual is Reserved List and prone to spiking when someone realizes it's potential. Both are a tad pricey, just thought I'd mention them.

Final point, if people are going to be discarding a bunch of creatures potentially, you might like Coffin Queen as a way to reanimate those pitched bodies, especially your opponent's stuff, as it gets exiled when it dies again. Demon of Dark Schemes can also work, not sure if you can generate enough energy to make it viable, but with stuff like Pitiless Plunderer it can go infinite reasonably easily.