Crypt-Ghoul-Currency

Commander / EDH Casual Reanimator Tokens WUB (Esper) Zombie

Necrosis24

Anthem (11)

• 1x Aven Wind Guide
• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Gleaming Overseer
• 1x Graf Harvest
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vizier of the Scorpion
• 1x Zombie Master

Boardwipe (3)

• 1x Damn
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Vanquish the Horde

CardDraw (7)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Archghoul of Thraben
• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight
• 1x Undead Augur

Combo (5)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Bone Miser
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Undead Alchemist
• 1x Viscera Seer

Land (34)

• 1x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Deserted Beach
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 4x Island
• 1x Mistgate Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 4x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Shattered Sanctum
• 1x Shipwreck Marsh
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Watery Grave

Other (5)

• 1x Faces of the Past
• 1x Lich Lord of Unx
• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Profane Tutor
• 1x Wishclaw Talisman

Ramp (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Crowded Crypt
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rooftop Storm
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Songs of the Damned

Recursion (8)

• 1x Deliver Unto Evil
• 1x Faith's Reward
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Gisa, Glorious Resurrector
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x Thrilling Encore

Removal (6)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Binding Mummy
• 1x Feast of Sanity
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Murderous Rider
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Token (11)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x God-Eternal Oketra
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Headless Rider
• 1x Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1x Kaya, Geist Hunter
• 1x Necroduality
• 1x Tormod, the Desecrator
• 1x Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Anthem (1)

• 1x Bladestitched Skaab

CardDraw (8)

• 1x Body Count
• 1x Kindred Discovery
• 1x Liliana's Standard Bearer
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Plumb the Forbidden
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Species Specialist

Mill (1)

• 1x Whispering Madness

Other (1)

• 1x Liliana Vess

Recursion (2)

• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Haunting Voyage

Removal (1)

• 1x Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

Token (1)

• 1x Rise of the Dread Marn

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Synopsis

Freddie Mercury has come crawling out of his grave to sell some NFTs. He calls them Killer Queens and Varina is interested so she has to start looting to get the stacks to cop herself a jpeg.

This is a casual deck that will typically try to win in the range of turn 8-12 but can potentially pop off early given the right set of cards although it is not intended to.

In this deck we will play zombies like Cemetery Reaper to provide anthem effects while also triggering Varina, Lich Queen to cycle through the deck and toss the good stuff into the graveyard. Then utilize cards like Rise of the Dark Realms to bring it all back.

Bicycle Race (Ramp)

We all want the gears of our deck to turn, and to ensure that we win the race we need ramp. (Albeit the ramp in this deck is rather weak).

We have some standard mana rocks Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and lastly Chromatic Lantern for color fixing as it is a three color deck. Smothering Tithe although not a mana rock is a white staple so of course that is included, ironically our opponents' benefit greatly if they have their own Smothering Tithe due to the excessive card draw this deck does.

Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar will provide flexible mana. By that I mean they give us a couple options on how and when we can use the mana they generate. They can be used to:

• Set up combos such as Gravecrawler + Rooftop Storm (I'll dive into this in the later sections).
• Sacrifice tokens to cast a high costed spell like Rise of the Dark Realms.
• Generate mana on our opponents' turns to cast instant spells like Swords to Plowshares or Faith's Reward.
• Prevent our opponents from stealing our creatures with an Act of Treason.

Songs of the Damned and Rooftop Storm are mainly for late game plays to set up explosive turns. Late in the game when you have discarded a significant number of creatures into your graveyard through Varina, Lich Queen's ability Songs of the Damned can typically provide a range of 5-10 mana depending on how lucky you are. Even if you only get {B}{B}{B} then you have cast a Dark Ritual which isn't bad. On the other hand Rooftop Storm is usually going to always be good as long as you have zombies in hand.

Lastly we have Crowded Crypt which has been a better card than expected. First off it provides a black pip ({B}) which this deck needs a lot of, but its ability to generate a significant number of tokens late game makes it even better. Crowded Crypt paired with Phyrexian Altar/Ashnod's Altar can make for some really explosive turns where you will be churning out tokens and mana.

Don't Stop Me Now (Card Draw)

Now that the gears are turning don't slow down. Varina and her zombie horde are ready to loot and get some value.

Varina, Lich Queen does not provide extra cards but she does let you curate your hand. The problem is when you only have a couple cards in hand you can end up tossing some important cards into the graveyard. Creatures are easy to get back but all other card types are a bit trickier to retrieve. So to avoid this as much as possible we have some card draw to give us a wider selection of cards we can discard.

Teferi's Ageless Insight and Alhammarret's Archive synergize with Varina, Lich Queen and let you double up on your card draw. The great thing is since Varina’s discard effect is tied to the number of attacking zombies rather than the number of cards you draw Teferi's Ageless Insight/Alhammarret's Archive will net you X cards where X is the number of attacking zombies you control. So if you attack with three zombies with Teferi's Ageless Insight in play you will draw six cards then discard three giving you a greater selection on which three cards to discard while also netting you three cards. Furthermore, Alhammarret's Archive double’s up the life gain from Varina’s ability allowing you to swing out at times without having to worry about dying from a crack-back.

Bident of Thassa is similar to Teferi's Ageless Insight where you will in most cases be drawing approximately X cards where X is the number of attacking zombies. Of course Bident of Thassa is reliant on combat damage so you won’t be guaranteed card draw if your opponents block, but cards like Graf Harvest can help your zombies get through.

Archghoul of Thraben, Undead Augur, and Erebos, Bleak-Hearted will provide card draw through the death of your zombies.

• Archghoul of Thraben in particular provides a lesser variation of Varina, Lich Queen’s ability and helps you build your graveyard to recur a creature through The Scarab God or any other recur spell. Alternatively if Rooftop Storm is in play you can always put the zombies into your hand if you happen to reveal any zombies off of Archghoul of Thraben’s trigger.

• All three pair well with the sac-outlets in this deck (i.e Ashnod's Altar) which will let you sacrifice zombies to gain yourself some mana while also providing a card to cast.

Graveborn Muse benefits from the wide strategy of this deck, so the more tokens the more card draw but also more life lost. Luckily Varina, Lich Queen gains us life so she can offset the life lost through Graveborn Muse, Undead Augur, and Erebos, Bleak-Hearted.

March of The Black Queen (Tokens)

Since Varina and her horde have been looting successfully they can afford to expand their horde to loot even more.

In order to expand the horde we got a couple of staples Grave Titan, God-Eternal Oketra, and Diregraf Colossus.

• God-Eternal Oketra and Diregraf Colossus pair well with Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler. Which will let you create infinite tokens. (Gravecrawler was actually not meant to be in the deck because of its infinite nature but after the secret lair dropped I had to include it for that art)

• Grave Titan is great because it wants to attack which benefits Varina, Lich Queen’s ability, and the tokens it creates enter untapped which gives you blockers or sac-fodder for your second main phase. Moreover it has deathtouch so it is usually a safe swing.

Since we are using sac outlets via the altars and Viscera Seer I have included Headless Rider and Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver to help us maintain a boardstate as we throw our zombies into the graveyard. Furthermore, since this deck is combat heavy creatures are bound to die so these two cards help replace those lost in combat.

Ghoulcaller Gisa also wants creatures to die but she wants to do the sac-ing. She synergizes with Headless Rider/Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver and also works well with anthem cards like Undead Warchief. You can pay {B} and sacrifice your 2/2 zombie token, which is a 4/3 due to Undead Warchief’s anthem affect, to get 4 new zombie tokens which will also be 4/3s.

Necroduality is an untested addition but I think its safe to say it is obviously a strong card. Two Grave Titans, Noxious Ghouls, Undead Warchiefs… must I explain more? Even if you have a legendary creature enter with Headless Rider in play you will still get a 2/2 zombie out of it, or perhaps a Binding Mummy trigger.

Anointed Procession and Kaya, Geist Hunter are simply here to double up our tokens. Paired with Josu Vess, Lich Knight and that ten mana investment will net you sixteen zombies. If both are in play that is a whopping thirty two zombies.

Tormod, the Desecrator works hand in hand with Varina, Lich Queen. Her activated ability isn't the best as it cost {2} and you have to exile two cards from your graveyard which generally isn't a good idea in a reanimator deck. And to top it all off the zombie token you create from Varina's ability enters the battlefield tapped, so you can't even use it to "flash" in a blocker. Sadly Tormod's token also enters tapped, but it is better to have two tapped zombies than one. This makes activating Varina, Lich Queen's ability a viable option especially during those games where you have run out of gas she can bring you back into the game with just a few tokens. Anointed Procession can also fill in this role.

We Will Rock You (Anthem)

Every marching horde needs an anthem to rock to and Varina is here to deliver.

Undead Warchief is a special one as it is a cost reducer, which is virtually ramp depending on how you look at it, but also provides a generous +2/+1 which makes a measly ten zombies deal lethal damage.

Lord of the Accursed, Graf Harvest, Death Baron, Vizier of the Scorpion, Gleaming Overseer, Aven Wind Guide, and Zombie Master + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth are here to provide some insurance for your attacking zombies. Menace, flying, and swampwalk provide evasion while deathtouch deters your opponents from blocking. If your opponents decide to block your zombies with deathtouch and menace you will kill both of their blockers while you just lose a 2/2 zombie token which is a great trade.

Diregraf Captain provides another option for a win condition through his aristocrat ability. There will be games where you can create 20+ zombies, but know a boardwipe is incoming before you can swing next turn. Thus Diregraf Captain will still let you get value out of your zombie tokens and burn a target opponent's life.

Lord of the Undead is another source of recursion. Although hardly used, the affordable activation cost can come in handy to save a zombie card in your graveyard from a Bojuka Bog.

Cemetery Reaper is a poor man's Varina, Lich Queen with its activated ability costing an additional {B}, but only requiring you exile one card instead of two. But it is restricted to creature cards whereas Varina has no type restriction in what cards she exiles. But Cemetery Reaper's ability is more useful in niche situations like when you just need a chump blocker since its token enters untapped.

Killer Queen (Removal)

Now that the horde has grown and Varina has created her fifth LLC, per finance bro's advice, we need to protect it and remove potential threats from the board.

Targeted removal:

• Feast of Sanity synergizes with Varina, Lich Queen so now whenever your zombie horde attacks you can burn down a potential blocker, thus making your attacks more safe. The life gain also helps provide a safety cushion against your own life drain affects (i.e. Undead Augur). During the late game Feast of Sanity is a great tool to close out games as you can swing out at one opponent, and send all your Feast of Sanity triggers towards another opponent's life total.

• Anguished Unmaking, Mortify, Murderous Rider, and Swords to Plowshares are fairly straight forward.

• Binding Mummy although it doesn't remove threats from the board it can tap down potential attackers like Gishath, Sun's Avatar. It can also be used offensively to tap down your opponent's blockers to help your zombies get through. Is your opponent low and life and refuses to use their Mana Crypt you can tap that down and have them gambling for their life. Is your opponent playing Winter Orb and planning to untap it on your end step? Tap it down right after and make them get a taste of their own card.

Boardwipes:

• Noxious Ghoul is a great card and can often carry games if it is not dealt with immediately. Since this deck can generate tokens with ease once you have an engine going it isn't hard to wipe the field every turn which will secure your win.

• Damn is mainly included as a boardwipe but the versatility to be able to use it as single targeted removal makes it that much better compared to Day of Judgment.

• Vanquish the Horde Nice cheap boardwipe, and due to its affordability it can be paired with Faith's Reward to recover your boardstate.

The Show Must Go On (Recursion)

If a zombie is a reanimated creature, what is a reanimated zombie? A zombie zombie? Regardless Varina is chucking as many zombies into the graveyard as possible, so to make sure we maintain our zombie horde we need to zombify zombies so here are the cards to do so:

Sun Titan, a classic that will be grabbing some important cards from the graveyard. Especially enchantments and artifacts, sometimes even a land. Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar are usually the first choice if they end up in the graevyard as they are central combo pieces. Alternatively Viscera Seer and Altar of Dementia can be solid picks as well.

Faith's Reward and Thrilling Encore can provide protection from boardwipes or be used as combo pieces. Such as sacrificing your zombies then recurring them to trigger ETBs like Noxious Ghoul or Binding Mummy.

Deliver Unto Evil’s main use is to get your other recur spells if they end up in the graveyard. Additionally it is used to grab you removal spells (i.e. Mortify/Damn). It of course can be used to recur creatures if the situation calls for it but it is often not needed for that reason.

The Scarab God and Geth, Lord of the Vault main utility is to steal your opponents creatures. Sometimes Geth can grab a mana rock or a utility artifact if your opponents happen to have one. The Scarab God will also be used to “cheat” out creatures from your own ggraveyard. Sometimes you will be at a mana deficit like when you recur Diregraf Captain or Zombie Master but at times these can be the crucial cards to win the game.

Gisa, Glorious Resurrector is also used to steal opponents’ creatures but is honestly mainly included for the art.

Rise of the Dark Realms was also included for the art to match Gravecrawler but it still functions in the deck. In general this deck isn’t reliant on stealing your opponents creatures so this can be easily replaced by Haunting Voyage or Command the Dreadhorde but regardless it works well enough and can close out games.

Bohemian Rhapsody (Synergies)

Now here are the combos and card synergies that work together that make this deck into the abomination it is.

Infinite Combos

I am a big fan of infinite combos and coming up with them, but I find that it gets boring to play after a while as you end up doing the same thing repetitively, but if that is what you enjoy then go for it. Therefore, I generally tend to avoid including them in decks, but in this case as I mentioned earlier Gravecrawler had to be included for the art.

So with Gravecrawler there are two main ways to go infinite either thru Phyrexian Altar or Rooftop Storm, but Rooftop Storm does require a sac-outlet while Phyrexian Altar is self sufficient. So the play here is simple:

In the case of Phyrexian Altar:

• Sacrifice Gravecrawler to gain {B}.
• Now cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard using the {B} you just created.
• Repeat this process an infinite number of times.

In the case of Rooftop Storm:

• Sacrifice Gravecrawler to any sac-outlet. We will use Viscera Seer for this situation.
• You can ignore the scry 1 from Viscera Seer as your top card doesn't affect the infinite loop.
• Since Gravecrawler is a zombie you can cast it from your graveyard for free.
• Repeat this process an infinite number of times.

Now to make use of this infinite loop there are three things to consider: Cast Triggers, Death Triggers, and ETB Triggers.

Cast Triggers

Loop: Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar

• God-Eternal Oketra will net you a 4/4 zombie token.
• Diregraf Colossus will net you a 2/2 zombie token.

Death Triggers

Loop: Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar

• Undead Augur and Erebos, Bleak-Hearted will let you draw out most of your deck, but keep in mind you do have to pay life so the amount of cards you can draw are limited to your life total.
• Diregraf Captain will let you burn out all of your opponents.
• Tormod, the Desecrator, Headless Rider, and Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver will get you infinite tokens.

ETB Triggers

Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar:

• Necroduality will get you infinite token copies of Gravecrawler.
• Binding Mummy will let you tap down all of your opponents' creatures to make them completely open to a swingout.
• Noxious Ghoul will continuously wipe out your opponents' boards making them easy targets as well as clearing threats from the board.

Additional Gravecrawler Infinite Tricks

Infinite Mana: Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Rooftop Storm

• Sacrifice Gravecrawler to Phyrexian Altar to generate {B}/{U}/{W}
• Cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard for free due to Rooftop Storm.
• Repeat this process to get infinite mana of any colors you desire.
• This mana can then be used towards The Scarab God, Geth, Lord of the Vault, Lich Lord of Unx, etc.

Mill Out: Gravecrawler + Rooftop Storm + Altar of Dementia

• Sacrifice Gravecrawler to Altar of Dementia to mill an opponent for two.
• Cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard for free due to Rooftop Storm.
• Repeat this process X amount of times to mill out all of your opponents.

Dig Deep Till You Strike Diamond: Gravecrawler + Rooftop Storm + Viscera Seer + Archghoul of Thraben + Erebos, Bleak-Hearted

• Sacrifice Gravecrawler to Viscera Seer which will trigger Archghoul of Thraben and Erebos, Bleak-Hearted, in stack order put Archghoul's trigger first then Erebos's trigger that way the card draw can resolve first.
• For the majority set of triggers you will not pay the 2 life for Erebos, Bleak-Hearted's trigger as there is only one card you need to draw.
• Now Archghoul of Thraben's trigger will resolve and you will put the top card of your library into your graveyard if possible.
• Next Viscera Seer's activated ability will trigger and you can scry 1, if it is not a creature or Rise of the Dark Realms put it on the bottom of your library otherwise leave it on top.
• Next recast Gravecrawler from your graveyard for free due to Rooftop Storm.
• Repeat this process until two things are complete: First, you find Rise of the Dark Realms when you scry with Viscera Seer which is when you will pay the 2 life the next time you sacrifice Gravecrawler(SLD) to draw Rise of the Dark Realms with Erebos, Bleak-Hearted. Second you have put all your creatures from your library into your graveyard through Archghoul of Thraben's triggers.
• Once the previous two criteria are met you will cast Rise of the Dark Realms and get your graveyard back.

(Note: This last combo is only necessary if Rise of the Dark Realms is not in your hand, otherwise you can use the infinite mill combo targeting yourself to build your graveyard.)

Amass the Horde (Tokens)

Protect Key Creatures: The Scarab God + Gleaming Overseer

• These together can make your key creatures nearly untouchable. Say you need your Sun Titan to stick to the board, but your opponent has a Swords to Plowshares in play. Assuming you have a sac-outlet (i.e. Phyrexian Altar) just sac Sun Titan then recur it with The Scarab God and with Gleaming Overseer it will now have hexproof and menace meaning it will also be safer to attack with your Sun Titan for the remainder of the game.

Once in a Blue Moon: Viscera Seer + Ghoulcaller Gisa + Diregraf Colossus + Faces of the Past + The Scarab God

• This synergy does require you to have a lot of creatures already in your graveyard. Cast Diregraf Colossus assuming you have eight zombies in your graveyard it will enter as a 10/10. Now sacrifice Diregraf Colossus to Ghoulcaller Gisa to create ten 2/2 zombies. Next you will sacrifice Viscera Seer to itself which will untap Ghoulcaller Gisa due to Faces of the Past. Next using The Scarab God you will recur Diregraf Colossus which will enter as a 12/12 this time as its base power/toughness is 4/4 now. Now sacrifice Diregraf Colossus to Ghoulcaller Gisa again to create twelve 2/2 zombies. This will net you a total of twenty-two 2/2 zombies.

Instant Boardstate: Josu Vess, Lich Knight + Anointed Procession/Kaya, Geist Hunter

• Turn eight tokens into sixteen. These tokens can swing to trigger Varina, Lich Queen or be sacrificed to Ashnod's Altar for 32 colorless mana. So you can go from ten mana, albeit colored mana, to 32 colorless mana. This is fantastic value if you ask me.

Max Value: Crowded Crypt + Phyrexian Altar + Faith's Reward

• What is better than sacrificing your entire board to get value then bringing it all back for even more value. Now assuming you have a decent boardstate you will sacrifice all your creatures to Phyrexian Altar to get a bunch of mana. Each creature that you sacrifice will put a corpse counter on Crowded Crypt, then using the mana you just generated you will activated Crowded Crypt's ability to create a bunch of tokens. Now using the remaining mana you will cast Faith's Reward. This will get you back all the creatures you just sacrificed in addition to bringing back Crowded Crypt. So next turn when you attack with the zombie tokens with decay and have to sacrifice them each one you sacrifice will put corpse counters onto Crowded Crypt so you can sacrifice it again to get the same amount of tokens back for round two.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race: Sun Titan + Field of the Dead + Anointed Procession

• Throughout the game a lot of lands get tossed into the graveyard, and are often left there but with Sun Titan he can act as a very expensive and worse Splendid Reclamation. However, with Field of the Dead active every time you bring back a land with Sun Titan you will get a 2/2 zombie, and with Anointed Procession you will get two zombies instead. You only net two zombies but as the turns go on if this is not dealt with you will be ramping and getting a massive boardstate.

Off With Their Heads (Removal)

Better Late Than Never: Teferi's Ageless Insight + Varina, Lich Queen + Feast of Sanity

• If you are attacking with a sizeable boardstate Varina, Lich Queen will trigger drawing you a bunch of cards as the amount is doubled by Teferi's Ageless Insight, but you will also be discarding a bunch of cards to trigger Feast of Sanity. Now since you have drawn so many cards you will likely have to discard at the end of your turn as Reliquary Tower is not in the deck. Thus at your discard phase you will trigger Feast of Sanity once again and get to remove another creature.

Duality of Zombies: Noxious Ghoul + Phyrexian Altar + Faith's Reward/Thrilling Encore

• With Noxious Ghoul in play sacrifice your zombies to Phyrexian Altar using the mana you just generated cast Faith's Reward to bring all your Zombies back essentially wiping the board with Noxious Ghoul's triggers.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	17 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.58
Tokens	Aven Wind Guide 2/3 W, Copy Clone, Spirit 1/1 W, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed, Zombie Army 0/0 B, Zombie Knight 2/2 B, Zombie Warrior 4/4 B, Zombie Wizard 1/1 UB