Kolaghan's Command and Damnable Pact both seem like they could do work in this deck also Ultimate Price

also red lands

Thanks for the comments. I have damnable pact in description already, but at the time I wrote it it wasnt added to tappedout yet.

and i have ultimate price in sideboard already.

as far as kolaghan's command - i do like that card but not for this deck - I was going for a Mono Black Devotion for easier mana base and Big Gray Merchants and with Nykthos the Mono Black Devo works better as well.

But I will try to toss a little Red splash in there and see how it works

You know that Alesha, Who Smiles at Death brings back grey merchant tapped and attacking. Also, you may want to considar Mogis's Marauder as the Intimitdate is relevant with all the green decks running around

hmm it would be tough trying to find room for those. they are not zombies either so there is little synergy. both seem better suited for aggro strategies - alesha does grab gray merchant, but i already have palace siege, kolaghans command, and whip of erebos to get him back if need be. plus both of these creatures are 3 CMC and my 3CMC slot is already the highest slot. mogis marauder could maybe be a sideboard option but honestly i have 4 heros downfall in main and more removal in sideboard especially against mono green - i have ultimate price, self inflicted wound, an extra silence the believers, and crux of fate - there is not much use for intimidate when i have so much removal. again it seems better suited for aggro as the curve topper - they want to win and fast - i am more midrange/control grindy type.

seige only brings it to your hand, alesha brings grey merchant to the battlefield.

Yes but it is way too conditional and doesnt have any synergy with anything else in the deck: Alesha only works for Gray merchant:

1. if i pay 2 mana AND attack - so what happens if they have a Siege Rhino or polukranos then i would attack into it and pay 2 mana to get Gray back? Thats a terrible option.

2. and if Alesha survives - being 2 toughness is terrible, she dies to every single spell in Standard right now including Wild Slash, the cheapest

3. Alesha is also Legendary so playing 4 copies is not good and i cant play multiple copies of her at the same time, unlike Gray Merchant or Risen Executioner.

Palace Siege 1. is an enchantment so its harder to remove, 1. it returns a creature with no conditions every single turn i dont have to attack or pay mana - AND i can just recast gray merchant every turn if need be, Im not looking to attack with Gray Merchant - Alesha is designed for aggro not midrange strategy. On top of all that she is not a zombie so there is no synergy with Risen Executioner, Necromancer's Stockpile, she is not a good target to Sac to Sidisi, Undead Vizier because she needs to be alive AND attack for me to benefit, etc

She also provides No Black devotion so it makes even less sense to bring gray back. Dont get me wrong, Alesha is a good card, but for aggro style decks NOT a midrange black Devotion deck.

I would cut the Tormenting Voice for more zombies, to help fuel your Necromancer's Stockpile.

I've been making Mono Black zombies, and I've also been considering splashing red for Kolaghan's Command

Here's my current list Stockpile of zombies

well, I was testing Tormenting Voice in place of Sign in Blood to see which one I liked better, but I think I want to go back to Sign in Blood.

I have plenty of Zombies for Stockpile already, plus I don't always draw Stockpile - I have more card draw so it allows me to run less copies of certain cards like Stockpile, because I don't want 4 copies in deck so I draw two copies frequently - I also needed the extra card draw to smooth out my land drops and get transition into the late game better.

Roast may be a good SB option for Rhino and Tasigur...

i was actually planning on using Sarkhans Rage - but it hasnt been added to tapped out yet. granted Roast is much cheaper but it is also much less versatile - it cant target players and it cant target creatures with flying (Stormbreath Dragon) - with Sarkhans rage i can kill a siege rhino and a stormbreath OR i can launch a Fireball at their face to close out the game - Instant speed is worth the 5 mana and the 2 dmg doesnt really matter bc I have so much life gain. yes Roast would be more efficient earlier in the game but I have thoughtseize, heros downfall, silence the believers, etc. To remove creatures efficiently and they curve perfectly into Sarkhans Rage. I can also bring in more efficient removal after sideboard like Ultimate Price which doesnt hit rhino but hits tasigur, courser, whisperwood, garruk or sorin tokens, wingmate, or any other Abzan type creatures. Plus for grindy decks like that Im thinking of running a copy of Deathbringer Regent to wipe their board late game and have a massive 5/6 Flyer left over.

I didn't read the description but I like what you have going.

I'd -1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier and -1x Empty the Pits to add +2x Ultimate Price. I think you'll end up wanting more interaction and your top end is already powerful.

yes ironically i was already thinking of putting empty the pits in my sideboard and 2 ultimate mainboard.

i did not cut Sidisi but i moved the 1 copy Outpost to sideboard, for room ultimate price 2 mainboard.

When I look at this deck I see a very steep mana curve with nearly as many 5 cost cards as 1 and 2's together. Your mainboard will struggle Vs aggro, or anything mildly fast.

Consider some less top heavy zombies like: Black Cat Sultai Emissary Shambling Goblin Any of these zombies can trade 2 cards for one against an aggro deck swinging an attacker with one health - by blocking and then using their effect.

After playtesting your deck vs anything fast I wouldn't be surprised if you added one of these guys to give you a chance during game one.

Your description mentions Outpost Siege which I don't see in your deck anymore...

Good luck!

Yes I have a higher top end - but this is no different then any other Midrange/Devotion deck. All Midrange/Devo decks struggle with Fast Aggro. You can't beat every deck - if you mainboard to beat Aggro then you most likely will get destroyed by control or midrange decks. If you mainboard to beat midrange/control then you struggle with aggro.

I have been experimenting with Necromancer's Stockpile since it came out in M15 core set, and I have used Black Cat before. It's kind of nice because it's a cheap early zombie that forces a discard BUT in the majority of games it is extremely low impact.The opponent can either ignore it because it is extremely weak and continue developing their board, or they attack through it virtually unphased. The discard is not that big of a deal once they develop their board. For all of these reasons I don't like using Black Cat.

For example, Turn 2 I lay down Black Cat, then they lay down Sylvan Caryatid or Courser of Kruphix. Immediately Black Cat is a useless card on the board. My best shot is to attack into Courser of Kruphix to try and make them discard - but even then the opponent will just opt not to block. 1 Damage is nothing - they gain 1 for every land put into play....This is what I mean about Black Cat - it is extremely low impact - and I definitely don't want to Top Deck a Black Cat late game.

As with most midrange/devo decks you will struggle with Aggro BUT that doesn't mean I will lose - my curve is higher in my top end yes but I have a lot of removal that curves into it - Thoughtseize, Hero's Downfall, Kolaghan's Command which is a 2 for 1 against aggro, Silence the Believers, and Ultimate Price. I'm not 100% equipped for aggro but I have plenty of tools to beat them maindeck - they won't always have fast draws - and I won't always have slow draws. But I have enough removal to slow them down until I get to my late game - which is a Ton of Life Gain. Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Palace Siege, Whip of Erebos.

And as we all know if Aggro doesn't kill you fast then most likely they will lose.

Also remember that these 4 and 5 CMC cards I have like Risen Executioner, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel can all be Discarded to Necromancer's Stockpile to not only draw a card but make a 2/2 Zombie. I much prefer my chances being able to discard a high cost Creature to Stockpile and getting a 2/2 token rather then putting Low Impact cards in their place like Black Cat or Shambling Goblin. Shambling Goblin can't even kill Goblin Rabblemaster. and Sultai Emissary has very bad synergy with this deck - if he dies and i manifest a 2/2 token, what if it was a copy of Ultimate Price? That essentially means I lost 1 copy of ultimate price AND my sultai emissary in exchange for a chump block? That's 2 for 1'ing myself and crazy tempo loss, something I don't want to do against aggro. I'd much rather draw tymaret, stockpile, or ultimate price.

So yes my mana curve is a little steep but the high CMC cards are all Zombies rememeber? so they can function as card draw/token producers as well as be hard cast. But if I was facing aggro, most likely I would spend the first 1-4 turns casting removal. No different then any other midrange/control deck.

On top of all this, my sideboard is packed with answers to aggro - so I don't think I am the favorite against aggro, BUT postboard my chances increase significantly. I will board in 2 Bile Blight, 2 Drown in Sorrow, and 2 Pharika's Cure. Maybe an extra Silence the Believers against mono black Aggro for bestowed Herald of Torment, and maybe Duress in place of Thoughtseize against Mono Red to snag their Burn spells or against Heroic to not lose health but still disrupt.

For all these reason stated above I do not like black cat, sultai emissary, or shambling goblin.

Great deck, I'm loving the synergy. And I agree that Outpost Seige might be worth a try. +1 from me.

Elesh thank you. ive been working hard on this deck and its coming together well so far. Still tweaking though. BUT as far as the Outpost Siege and did put it in their for awhile to try it out and then I realized it really didn't fit well with the style deck because I would draw cards that I either didnt want to play at the moment - like Sidisi, Undead Vizier or I would also get a card like Ultimate Price and my opponent didn't have any good targets or maybe had some Elvish Mystic which is a waste to use it on or Sylvan Caryatid that i cant target - either way it was wasting my spells - and I realized Outpost Siege is more for fast paced Red Based Decks that want to be proactive - and this Black Zombie deck is more reactive or disruptive - I want to play spells In Reaction not Flip spells every turn and hope that I dont waste them. See What I mean? So the biggest reason is I am more Reactive with Removal/Disruption and you want to play spells strategically and time everything correctly - Outpost did not help that because it is Proactive and all the spells it Exiles will be played regardless.

For those reasons, I decided to remove it - but I do love the card I will say...just not for this deck. I do have Read the Bones in the sideboard and it works quite well for extra card advantage - along with mainboard Necromancer's Stockpile and Erebos, God of the Dead you can build some serious card advantage.

tymaret+necromancer's stockpile is infinite draw-2BB; draw a card+ETB

yep - 2BB cycle. one of my favorites is to have one tymaret on battlefield and one in GY with palace siege in play - you lay out gray merchant and drain them, then at their end step, you pay 1R to sac gray and deal 2 dmg to player, then every upkeep you return gray to hand and repeat - its pretty hilarious.

Holy sht! This deck looks awesome!!! Zombies are gonna be a thing again with Risen Executioner. This deck is just so awesome... nothing else to say.

well the cats out of the bag - this is my main squeeze atm. This deck and my BANT Midrange are my main focus. i had some mach cards printed to test this and my BANT deck (my wife used the Bant deck) and I lost the 1st Won the 2nd Lost the 3rd. So it did pretty poorly against that deck, BUT I was on the Draw both losses and didnt have that great of draws - and in the Bant deck there is tons of countermagic and even some Dromokas Command which wrecks my enchantments, so its pretty rough matchup against enchantment hate. Im gonna keep testing but in just those 3 games I got to see the power level of some of the cards - as far as Bant:

Sunscorch Regent is stupid good - she had one in play i heros downfalled it but she got one of the top and i couldnt find another answer until 3-4 turns later, by that time she had Countermagic in hand so it too late - over the course of 4 turns or so it gained 5 life and was a 9/8 LOL. If you do not answer it the thing will Maul you. Also game one I saw a turn 4 Dragonlord Ojutai which was pretty much impossible to beat. you have turns 5 6 7 8 to kill it or youre dead. 4 turn clock. Dragonlord Dromoka is disgusting as well in combination with Ojutai because they cant even cast spells on your turn - its just really good with Ojutai and Countermagic in hand.

for the Zombie deck:Sidisi, Undead Vizier is very good but only in slow grindy matchups. and can attack or block anything pretty much with 6 toughness and 4 power deathtouch it is very good.

Risen Executioner is pretty boss he can attack through Courser of Kruphix unphased and you cannot kill him - he just keeps coming right back - plus if you curve into him its really nice for ex: turn 1 thoughtseize, Turn 2 Tormenting Voice discard Risen Executioner, Turn 3 either heros downfall or ultimate price + thoughtseize, or kolaghans command, turn 4 cast Executioner from GY, turn 5 cast Gray Merchant of Asphodel drain 4, attack for 4 = 12 life, turn 6 cast sidisi, Sac Executioner get any card you need, turn 7,cast Executioner from GY and cast heros downfall, Attack with Sidisi (5/7) and gray merchant (3/5) = 4 life. then from here either Palace Siege or another gray merchant will finish them.

Gray Merchants still as broken as he used to be. the only problem for me is enchantment Hate - but thats what thoughtseize and Kol command is for PLUS Duress sideboard and Stain the Mind. I need to really attack their hand to setup my game plan - because i have figured out that my consistent combo with this deck is Stockpile + Whip of Erebos + Palace Siege. If you get those 3 enchantments down its pretty much a lock down on the game. People keep saying oh its not possible to use this deck because so much enchant hate in Standard - well tell that to the people building Creature Based Decks LOL "there is so much removal you cant use creatures'' LOL i can say that about any deck but the fact is you gotta play smart and if you know they have enchant hate then play around it or make them discard it, the same way creature based decks play around Crux of Fate or other removal. There is more creature removal right now then enchant hate and thats not stopping anyone from casting creatures - this is my point. Not to mention a lot of enchant hate is Sideboard so its better game 1 - game 2 you can switch Game Plans, let them bring in enchant hate while you take Enchants out and go more Control - that way they have Dead Cards in hand and play a slower match.