Varina, Lich Queen

Legendary Creature — Zombie Wizard

Whenever you attack with one or more Zombies, draw that many cards, then discard that many cards. You gain that much life

{2}, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.

Combos

• Bone Miser + Varina, Lich Queen

Tokens

• Zombie 2/2 B

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
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

Spellsword407 on Flying Zombies!

5 months ago

Kcin for awhile I had a Varina, Lich Queen deck. It would have been stupid there for sure! I've experimented with zombies in a lot of different ways over the years. I always like coming up with new iterations.

legendofa on BBEG Deck Ideas

6 months ago

For my breakdown here, I'm focusing on characters who are villains in their story arc and characters who don't have much specific backstory. Pretty much any legendary creature can be flavored as a villain in front of the right deck. I'm also not focusing on the Forgotten Realms sets, I'm broadening the net.

What's available:

{C}: Eldrazi or artifacts. Most of the artifacts are either hero-aligned or not an independent threat, like Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut. If you want a challenge, Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate, but I wouldn't, just for lack of depth.

{W}: Villains are oddly centered on Old Kamigawa. Konda, Lord of Eiganjo is a near-immortal emperor and master duelist. Hokori, Dust Drinker is destroying resources and the land. And, of course, there's the apocalyptic, unrelenting evil that is Hazduhr the Abbot.

{U}: Heidar, Rimewind Master is an elementalist fanatic. The manipulations of Orvar, the All-Form or Kami of the Crescent Moon could cause problems, as could a big sea creature like Tromokratis or Charix, the Raging Isle.

{B}: Pretty much everyone. It's easier to count the people who aren't outright villains.

{R}: Relatively few actual villains, but a bunch of manipulators, dragons, and angry people that could fill the role.

{G}: A bunch of wild animals and nature types. No scheming villains, but a good selection of rampaging monsters. Meng Huo, Barbarian King would be a unique choice (if you're willing to.proxy or drop $150+).

{G}{W}: Polukranos Reborn  ^Flip is the most (only?) villainous character in these colors.

{U}{B}: Lots of options, from the behind-the-scenes manipulation of Lazav, Dimir Mastermind to the illithid Captain N'ghathrod, Gisa and Geralf's necromancer army, whatever Umbris, Fear Manifest is, and a lot more.

{G}{U}: A few options, but lots of depth in them. Insane biologist Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and his magnum opus Experiment Kraj, nature's avenger Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, or maybe Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is flooding the area.

{B}{R}: A very deep and wide pool for villains. Vampires, demons, dragons, demon dragons, warlords, torturers...

{B}{G}: Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager joins the ranks of the big scary monsters. A more calculating BBEG would probably be one of the death lords like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. Vhati il-Dal or Old Rutstein or probably more storyline villains than BBEG material.

{G}{W}{U}: A very shallow pool. Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl, Rubinia Soulsinger, and maybe Falco Spara, Pactweaver or Katilda and Lier (mostly because of Lier) are the best options for an Archenemy villain. I'd throw Kros, Defense Contractor in, but goading is kind of limited when you're the Archenemy.

{W}{U}{B}: This color set will probably be either a cold, distant, merciless villain or a manipulative puppet master. Raffine, Scheming Seer and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic fall into the first category, and Sen Triplets and The Ever-Changing 'Dane in the second. Varina, Lich Queen is another option for a zombie army.

{B}{R}{G}: Big, angry, and violent, with some good dragons. Xira, the Golden Sting and Vazi, Keen Negotiator break out of this mold, but they strike me as more lieutenant-types, not arc villains by themselves.

{R}{G}{W}: Not much; these tend to be either heroic or big smashy monsters. Uril, the Miststalker could work.

{R}{W}{B}: Queen Marchesa is a classic, as you mentioned, and Edgar Markov is right there, too. Actually, this color set has some good depth and variety for an Archenemy. Some are more overtly villainous, and some are just very martial. My top picks would be Edgar, Licia, Sanguine Tribune, or Tariel, Reckoner of Souls.

{G}{U}{R}: Mostly either weird esotericism or "nature's avenger" types. I don't think any of these are outright villainous in-story, but most of them have loose or vague stories. With the right deck, this could be a unique and interesting villain. Riku of Two Reflections is my top pick.

Four-color sets in general: Any of them would work, except for a couple of the {R}{G}{W}{U}.

{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: Use this color set if you want a truly apocalyptic feel. saluma mentioned Tiamat, which is a very good choice, and finding a way to get through Progenitus or O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami is a story of epic scale.

77hi77 on Disk Boi's Zombie Disco

11 months ago

I've had a handful of games with this deck now, here's what I've learned so far:

1) It's a lot less straight forward than I thought. Commanders like Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver and Varina, Lich Queen generate value. You cast them as early as possible, make a lot of Zombies and draw a lot of cards with them. I figured I could build the same deck, have it generate its own tokens and draw cards without commander help, then cast Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant as a wincon or to reset the board. That has not been the case. I find that it's never the right time to cast him, either because my board state looks good, no creatures died this turn, or I don't have enough floating mana. Which brings us to:

2) Technically he's an 8 mana commander: he costs 6, let's assume I can sac him for free, his ability costs 1, and the way to reanimate him (like Supernatural Stamina costs 1. I'm not trying to play cEDH, but I'm definitely low on ramp in this deck, definitely compared to my other deck that I have on here: I BEG YOUR F@CKING PARDON??!!! - Razaketh with its like 25 ramp spells/mana rocks (necessary because that deck's cheapest wincon costs 11 mana).

I still enjoy what Nevvy brings to the table, I'll keep tinkering, but yeah I'm being humbled right now

77hi77 on Zombie Tribal - Deciding My …

1 year ago

Well, I just went ahead and got myself Varina, Lich Queen, Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant, and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born. Each deck will play differently, but I feel pretty good about them all being based on the Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver precon for the spine of the deck. I might even go wild and pick up a Sedris, the Traitor King to go for yet another colour route. For now I'll leave it at dimir and esper, figure those out and how I want those to play.

Now to decide which Liliana suits how I want each commander to play best (and try to justify the answer not being Liliana, Dreadhorde General because she ain't cheap)

mrpatriot on Zombie Tribal - Deciding My …

1 year ago

Varina, Lich Queen is definitely a commander to consider if you do go the Esper route. Rewards going wide, draws cards en masse and fills your Graveyard at the same time while also giving you access to a 3rd color option

shadow63 on Zombie Tribal - Deciding My …

1 year ago

I built Varina, Lich Queen when she first came out and it's fun being able to rip through my deck with her ability. But I must admit the white doesn't offer a ton in terms of zombies

GoldenAgeBatman on Your Cheap Obscure Overperformers?

1 year ago

Undead Alchemist in Varina, Lich Queen has been phenomenal, especially against other creature heavy decks. Archfiend of Ifnir and Zombie Infestation are also a wonderful combo to destroy an opponent's board while building up your own.

Orlenius on Pride, Prejudice & Zombies

1 year ago

TheOfficialCreator I do like those two cards but haven't yet looked into them much as they're fairly new and I haven't had much chance to play this year yet.

I definitely like Necroduality but as for Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver I feel like I have enough card draw from Varina, Lich Queen and I'm unsure if him also being a 4CMC would clog that space in the deck for Varina alongside Necroduality being 4CMC as well. I'm also not a fan of Decay but maybe I'm missing something that some playtesting will shine a light on.

Will definitely give them a try as proxies for the time being and see how I feel. Thank you for the recommends!