Diregraf Ghoul
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander 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
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Diregraf Ghoul

Creature — Zombie

Diregraf Ghoul enters the battlefield tapped.

TheVectornaut on Dead of Night

2 months ago

I think the biggest weakness of this deck is that it's hard to curve out early with so many of the slots occupied by cards at 3 CMC or higher. The ideal play pattern is probably to slam down Champion of the Perished on turn 1 and then follow up with a zombie or 2 every following turn until finishing with a bomb. This is difficult to do with Relentless Dead as your only 2 drop, and if you don't draw Champion, the lack of 1 drops makes things even worse. I'd recommend adding something like Gravecrawler, Diregraf Ghoul, Cryptbreaker, or Dread Wanderer to provide early pressure in the absence of a champion. Then, on 2, I personally like Undead Augur for the draw, especially paired with a sac outlet like Carrion Feeder. Other 2s could be Waste Not with a discard package, Graveyard Marshal as a lordless Cemetery Reaper, or you could dedicate the slots to cheaper removal. Invoke Despair is very flashy but seldom as efficient as a Thoughtseize or Fatal Push. On 3, you have enough cards, although I would still offer Geralf's Messenger, Diregraf Colossus, and Lord of the Accursed as other options to consider. To make room, the most obvious place to start is the bloated 6-slot, and as much as I love using him in my Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest EDH deck, Champion of Stray Souls is very slow in 60-card formats. Helm of the Host, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, and Killing Wave (without a drain package with Gray Merchant of Asphodel) also seem underwhelming to me. It should be noted that I'm using modern as the basis for my evaluation. If your local casual meta is slow enough, running more big guys isn't as big of a problem, although I'd still try for more 1s and 2s just to avoid games where you're bricked until turn 3.

multimedia on Black blue deck

1 year ago

Hey, I saw your forum topic asking for help. Fine start on a low budget, but do you want a Dimir Zombie deck or a control deck?

I ask because you're not playing a Zombie as 4x instead all the instants you're playing are 4x. If playing Champion of the Perished my advice is focus more on Zombies and less on control to better trigger Champion. Right now the core of your deck are instants, not Zombies which isn't helping Champion. Be more aggressive with Zombies and Champion, relying less on control? More control can go in your sideboard for certain matchups, but it doesn't have to be main deck.

Honestly, on a low budget you're better off playing mono black Zombies with all basic Swamps rather than having a less than ideal slow two color Dimir manabase with many lands that come into play tapped. The problem is all the blue spells that aren't Zombies. You can get enough blue sources for blue Zombies with tribal lands such as budget Unclaimed Territory, but it can't cast Counterspell.

You can get control from just black playing Legacy with main deck Hymn to Tourach. It's a powerful effect for two mana since your opponent has no choice over what they discard. 4x Duress in the sideboard is good for control on a budget. Hymn is better control with Zombies than Counterspell because it's black.

Consider 1x more Champion of the Perished? You want to have the most chances of having it turn one and it's the reason you're playing Zombies. Champion can benefit from more one drop and two drop Zombies which can increase the aggression to make Diregraf Captain pack more of a punch. Hordewing Skaab is more powerful when you have more Zombies. Dread Wanderer can reanimate itself and Diregraf Ghoul is fine on a budget as another one drop Zombie.Bladestitched Skaab is 2/3 two drop Zombie lord and it's a good reason to play blue with Zombies.

Don't be afraid to use your life as a resource for Undead Augur who can be repeatable draw when your Zombies die. The effect lets you keep swinging with Zombies and it's board wipe recovery. Graf Reaver is a 3/3 two drop Zombie who can pick off a Planeswalker if needed and it's good with Zombie lords.

Dark Ritual can help to have fast starts when playing more one drop and two drop black Zombies and it also lets you reduce the amount of lands since it's ramp. Turn one cast Ritual to cast up to three one drop Zombies or a one drop Zombie and Hymn to Tourach, etc. Ramp out Hordewing Skaab turn three with three lands after playing a Zombie turn one and turn two, etc.

Infernal Grasp is a better main deck creature removal than Doom Blade since Grasp can destroy any targetable creature. Doom is more of a sideboard card if played at all to bring in against mono green, white or red decks.

Tainted Isle is now a budget Dimir land that enters the battlefield untapped that cares about basic Swamps. Choked Estuary can enter the battlefield untapped if you reveal a basic Swamp from your hand. These dual lands are some budget upgrades to consider.

This is an example of a budget Zombie core to start with for Champion of the Perished:

If you're interested I'll continue with more advice in another comment including some cuts to consider. Good luck with your deck.

KingKaz on Mono-Black Zombie Graveyard Horde

2 years ago

wallisface Wow, thank you for taking the time to put in the suggestions. I could see Carrion Feeder replacing Undead Warchief or maybe the Diregraf Ghoul for the one drop.

I have not seen Blasting Station before. It looks like I can combo that really nicely with Gravecrawler. Pretty much as long as I have mana, I can keep cycling them.

I personally like the lords for the buff and the abilities that they give to the other zombies. The deathtouch from Death Baron can be super useful.

I instantly got excited when I saw Champion of the Perished in the new set. I'll definitely get a set when they come out.

You've definitely given me something to think about with these suggestions.

mrweaselman on Walking Dead

2 years ago

Idk who this Willy is, but no you.

This deck is a really a mono black build that you happen to run blue for Diregraf Captain . The way I see it you can either keep with the build you're going for, which to me seems like mono black, or you can go a much different dimir amass path with cards like Vizier of the Scorpion , Gleaming Overseer , Lazotep Plating ,

Let's assume you do mono black, then let's start with creatures. Brain Gorgers and Stromgald Crusader are garbage, Tomebound Lich is mostly used in dedicated reanimator decks, and Extremely Slow Zombie is a card from a joke set, so take those all out, along with Diregraf Captain . That's 11 out. Add 2 Murderous Rider , 3 Liliana's Reaver , 2 Undead Augur , 3 Diregraf Ghoul .

For noncreature spells, take out Negate . The best mono black removal is probably Walk the Plank . So take out Go for the Throat and Ultimate Price for 3. Gravepurge and Return from Extinction can be replaced with 3 Call of the Death-Dweller . Take out Bontu's Monument for another copy of Liliana, Untouched By Death or vise-versa. Take out Necromancer's Stockpile , I just don't think it's that good. For a five drop $1-2 slot, Open the Graves is better than Call to the Grave .

If you followed all that you should have 6 slots left. Add one more Swamp so you're at 22. Then maybe 3 Dread Wanderer , 2 Fleshbag Marauder , and flex card like Risen Executioner or something fun.

DragonzBane on

3 years ago

I think Diregraf Ghoul is pretty weak. I would suggest Smuggler's Copter or Gutterbones over it.

bayentethene on Monoblack Buzzsaw

3 years ago

Ooh, I really like Diregraf Ghoul, that's a solid replacement for Carnophage I usually don't do a whole lot of blocking anyway, so that might be a solid choice!

And Oona's Prowler Looks like a solid addition. Would be nice to have more evasion.

Yeah, I'm not really sure why I left out 3cc stuff in the original build. Master of the Feast and Rotting Regisaur both look like solid additions, and give me some heavy hitters so I don't have to rely on Hatred so much. As mostly a pure weenie build as it sits, it does have a tendency to get bogged down versus bigger bodies.

I really appreciate the feedback! I'll look into testing a few different versions, and report back here once I've got some fresh results under my belt.

xram666 on Monoblack Buzzsaw

3 years ago

I like momo black aggro decks. Back in the old days I played a lot Black Suicide decks. On TappedOut I have a mono black singleton deck where you can find a lot of suggestion for your deck: Mono Black No More Suicide

Just some of the best suggestion:

For Carnophage maybe Diregraf Ghoul or Vampire Lacerator

Really good two-drops are: Oona's Prowler and Scrapheap Scrounger

But I would add more one-drops or some three-drops for better consistency of the mana usage of Dark Ritual Maybe Gutterbones, Bloodsoaked Champion, Master of the Feast, Dread Shade or Rotting Regisaur

DragonzBane on

3 years ago

I would suggest dropping 2 Diregraf Ghoul(Leaving you still with 10 1 drops) and adding 2 more Thoughtseize. Depending on your meta, I would also suggest Fatal Push over Spark Harvest. Also adding 1 or 2 Castle Locthwain over swamps costs nothing and may win you a game or 2. 2-4 Liliana, Untouched By Death would help with your late game. You may be able to cut Dark Salvation for it.

I like the deck! The Zombie tribe is one of my favorites.

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