Death Baron

Creature — Zombie Wizard

Skeletons you control and other Zombies you control get +1/+1 and have deathtouch. (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Balaam__ on Zombies / Buried Alive + Victimize

1 month ago

Without knowing exactly what cardpool is at your disposal, any suggestions you get may not be very helpful. That said, there are essentially two paths for mono {B} zombies; combo and ‘overwhelm the board’ strategies. Things like recursive Gravecrawler loops with appropriate damage or token triggers would fall under the combo heading, but it doesn’t look like you have the right pieces here.

If you’re going with an aggro approach, I’d double down on cheap, recastable zombies like Gravecrawler and Relentless Dead (if you have any) and then find other cards that buff them (like Death Baron). That way you can assemble an army for cheap, increase their stats, and continue fighting from the grave after they kick the bucket.

Also, add a few more lands. 19 is on the low end. Don’t be afraid to get rid of ineffective cards like Diregraf Ghoul (it enters tapped and is fairly useless) so that you can double down on running multiples of your better cards. Hope this helps.

SaberTech on Varina: Unalive in 2025

2 months ago

Well, I'll try picking some options to cut from different points in your curve so that I don't mess with the balance you are trying to go for too much.

• Changeling Outcast I don't think that this one is really worth it. It is an early drop that can net you some value off of Varina if attacks don't look great but I think that I would prefer to see a mana rock over that in my starting hand pretty much every time.

• Champion of the Perished, Shambling Ghast, and Lazotep Reaver are also pretty low value options that I would prefer to be a mana rock in my opening hand but they at least have a bit of potential scaling value. The Champion could get big enough to pressure opponents a bit even though it doesn't have trample, and both the Ghast and Reaver could potentially do something late game with the Liliana, Untouched By Death combo line. Still, I would consider any of those three to be cuttable for other stuff.

• Relentless Dead I think that this card is too mana hungry. Varina's card filtering lets the deck be pretty consistent in finding cards that it wants to cast, so it's a waste to leave mana untapped just so that you can make use of Relentless Dead's abilities if it dies. You have other ways of getting creatures back in the deck, and I think that Zul Ashur, Lich Lord already fills the role better.

• Headless Rider Preferably, you don't want to be trading away your utility zombies in combat if you can help it so the Rider becomes more of a backup to get some value if an opponent uses removal than a way of getting ahead on board. It can produce infinite tokens off of some of the decks combos, I'll give it that, but on its own it is trying to compete with Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, which can also combo and draw you cards. If you are looking for an alternative to it, I've actually been very impressed with Geralf, the Fleshwright in my own list. Geralf also combos and his ability to pump your zombies can get pretty nuts.

• Priest of the Crossing is a card that I'm just uncertain of. It's more a suggestion to just watch how this card performs for you in practice to see if it's worth it. I think that how well it fits will come down to play style.

• Noxious Ghoul and Temmet, Naktamun's Will kind of play a similar role in the deck, but from different angles. They both ultimately make your creatures harder to block. The Ghoul removes creatures, synergizes well with cards like Cryptcaller Chariot, and can fit in with some of your combos. It's dependent on other cards working well for it to do more than clear some small creatures each turn though. Temmet is a better body for your mana and his looting effect helps to fuel both itself and other cards in the deck. With other cards in the deck like On Wings of Gold, Zombie Master, or Death Baron that also make it harder for the opponent to block you could decide which of them ends up doing more for you overall after some testing.

• Land Tax is a card that I like in my own deck but what I mainly use it for is a way to put a bunch of cards in my hand to loot away for something better. I don't put too much emphasis on it as a way to mana fix. With only 6 basics in your deck you only get a couple shots with it, but considering that it is only 1 mana that still could be enough value for what you spend. Just something to keep your eye on.

wallisface on Mono Black Zombies

4 months ago

Some thoughts:

• Ghoulcaller's Chant is really bad and should either be Unearth or Chthonian Nightmare

• Tragic Slip is also very weak and should likely be Fatal Push.

• Grave Titan has too high a mana cost to ever be worth playing imo, i’d suggest ditching it.

• Undead Augur is a better version of Midnight Reaper

• this deck really feels like it wants a playset of Carrion Feeder

• Relentless Dead feels too weak to play at-all. And personally i’d never run more than 2 copies of Death Baron because most of the time it’ll just be bad (it’s only situationally good in grindy games where both players have amassed a wide boardstate… which almost never happens).

legendofa on Golgari Skelly Bobs

1 year ago

Welcome to the club, Nezkul! I always get excited when I see a Skeleton deck.

To offer some specifics on wallisface's tips, the planeswalkers don't offer too much to your plan. Garruk, Cursed Huntsman in particular doesn't pull his weight in this deck, at 6 mana for either a couple of expendable bodies or some removal and draw. (Don't rely on a planeswalker's ultimate; unless your deck is loaded with proliferate effects or very hard control, more often than not you're not going to reach it.) Lolth, Spider Queen is a little better, since your Skeletons can be easily reclaimed. Still, though, it's primary function is as a draw engine, so maybe Phyrexian Arena or some "burst" draw like Village Rites would work better.

For removal, Hero's Downfall is more flexible than Murder, and has been reprinted enough that it's very affordable. I don't see your creatures getting more than maybe 3-4 toughness on a good day, so Grim Contest might not be the best option. There's lots of pretty good removal at 2 mana, so that is a potential switch. Prey Upon needs either Skeletal Swarming or Death Baron to be fully useful, so switching it for Bone Shards might work better.

Persistent Specimen is a decent 1-mana skeleton, as is Rimebound Dead if you can find some Snow lands.

Above all, have fun!

Exlixer on Skeleton Deck

2 years ago

I appreciate the input, I was trying to make this a monoblack skeleton tribe deck for goofs and laughs. A buddy of mine suggested Death Baron but I'm not quite sure about adding it. Maybe Paragon of Open Graves seems like it'll help.

For the boost then if I can't get Coat of Arms out and Bad Moon isn't overly helpful, what else could I put? My friend suggested Stoneforge Masterwork but I'm apprehensive about it.

I'm also worried about the land issue as well, however with everything being 1-2 drops anyway, would I have to worry that much about it?

legendofa on Skeleton Deck

2 years ago

Skeletons! Yes!

I think this deck needs more lands. You want to have mana to cast your Skeletons and mana to regenerate your Skeletons, and 16 lands is barely enough to support one of those. There's almost no chance of getting the Coat of Arms out at any reasonable time. Get up to the 22-24 land count, and you'll have more success.

I would also suggest more support. As much as it hurts me to suggest a Zombie, Death Baron is the best at what it does, and the next best option is Paragon of Open Graves. This will let your bone army go toe to toe with bigger creatures, threatening them instead of just surviving and regenerating.

Finally, this deck probably needs a backup win condition. Even with a pile of Bad Moons, your damage output is pretty low, and having another way to apply pressure will help.

Traenis on Mordenkainen and Vecna

2 years ago

Hi, if I were at your place, I'd consider what is the topic/how do I wanna win with this deck. It seems a little non-focused to me. For example your Death Baron or Cemetery Reaper are great for zombie decks, but most of your creatures aren't zombies, so you don't really use their potential.

Barbarian_Sun_Pope on Jimbo's Jumbo Zombos

2 years ago

I like the creature and removal package here. Have you considered Fiend Artisan or Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia as a one of? Though the Fiend isn't a zombie itself, it works well with zombie tokens to cheat out other zombies and progressively gets bigger as the game goes on. Jadar is pretty good at making expendable zombies to pair up with Death Baron, Cryptbreaker, and Champion of the Perished. Hope this helps.