Death Baron
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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
Freeform 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
PreDH Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Standard Brawl Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

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.)

TheVectornaut on King of the Skull Servants

2 weeks ago

As a fellow enjoyer of Grass Looking Greener (mostly Lightsworn but also some Zombie/Vampires, PK+Paleos, and Skull Servants), I do think the idea is interesting. You're always going to be in a bit of a battle between thematic consistency and power level. For instance, a grave-counting creature like Wight of Precinct Six or Nighthowler would fit the idea of King growing with more guys in the yard, but they would also be disappointingly weak right now since you don't have a lot of mass self-mill at the moment (Stitcher's Supplier and Overlord of the Balemurk are the first things that comes to my mind). On the subject of getting what you want in the GY, it probably is best to have a few more ways of getting specific targets buried at least. With Entomb off the table in modern, I could see Unmarked Grave being the best cheap option instead of or in addition to Buried Alive. This only negatively affects Maha who I already think is worse than reanimator staples like Archon of Crueltyfoil or Sire Of Insanity. Fewer legendaries also makes Persist a great choice. There's also Lively Dirge if you want to stick to the low mana value plan and can afford to pay more mana. Finally, I'm partial to Burning-Rune Demon as a way to extend into more reanimations while being a reasonable threat in its own right. I think it would be cool to run more skeletons for the theme too, although most aren't that helpful. Cards like Reassembling Skeleton or Persistent Specimen could be sac fodder to a Victimize or Hell's Caretaker. Another one that I know can be good in black reanimator is Emperor of Bones, although he has some unfortunate anti-synergy with other cards in the deck like Twilight Diviner. Death Baron is always an option if you find the Corpses of the Lost backup plan doesn't have enough oomph.

Some final notes: It may be more consistent to focus on just the Xu-Ifit negated reanimations. That would involve going up to 4 Death's Shadow and adding in some similar options like Moonshadow or Yargle and Multani. The EDHRec page for Varolz, the Scar-Striped could be a place to start. That all said, having the more powerful effects of non-negated creatures may still be worth the inconsistency of the two plans not always meshing whan you need them to. You do want to have the best options available in either case though. My first cut suggestions would be Gloom Sower, Avatar of Woe, Inkwell Leviathan, and lastly Maha, Its Feathers Night. Finally, I second cutting some lands and would suggest Bitter Triumph as a replacement for Cast Down that comes with a Cabal Therapy option built-in.

Balaam__ on Zombies tribal and creature combos

10 months 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 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

11 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

1 year ago

Some thoughts:

legendofa on Golgari Skelly Bobs

2 years 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.

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