Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny

Modern Control Counterspell Creature Cheat Reanimator Sacrifice UB (Dimir) Zombie

Balaam__

Creature (18)

• 4x Diregraf Captain
• 4x Gravecrawler
• 2x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 4x Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
• 4x Relentless Dead

Artifact (8)

• 4x Aether Vial
• 4x Pyre of Heroes

Land (20)

• 2x Cavern of Souls
• 4x Island
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 6x Swamp
• 4x Watery Grave

Instant (10)

• 4x Counterspell
• 4x Fatal Push
• 2x Mana Leak

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Thoughtseize

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Sideboard

Creature (7)

• 3x Carrion Feeder
• 2x Cryptbreaker
• 2x Undead Augur

Instant (8)

• 4x Drown in the Loch
• 4x Remand

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Profane Tutor

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Rooftop Storm

Creature (1)

• 1x Champion of the Perished

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Zombies might never be a Tournament level competitive build, but it’s been a small dream of mine to have a semi competitive deck that can be fairly consistent. It may not win in any serious setting, but I’d very much like to end up with a deck that can perform somewhat well among friends. Call it, ‘Kitchen Table Competitive’.

In any case, I’d appreciate help fine tuning this to perform as well as possible. I’d like to stay within the basic framework I’ve constructed, so I have no intention of radically changing the core mechanics. But if I’ve overlooked card(s) that have great synergy with this design, by all means shout them out.

The Mana Base

• Watery Grave is the penultimate Dimir land in Modern; tap to add either or and see what rises from the brackish waters.

• Polluted Delta nets us our choice of either a Swamp or an Island . Early on it’s usually best to pluck Watery Grave from our library, allowing access to both.

• Cavern of Souls is a godsend for many decks comprised of creatures sharing a common type. Ours is no exception. Declare Zombie as the chosen creature type and watch your shamblers enter play with invincibility frames—much to the frustration of your opponent and their fistful of Counterspell ’s.

•Lastly, the basic Swamp and basic Island complete our lands.

Preemptive and Proactive Removal

These spells will prove critical in the opening few turns while we attempt to establish a board presence. We have an assortment of spells dedicated to preventing threats from ever seeing the light of day, as well as being able to thwart what the opponent does manage to throw our way.

• Thoughtseize eliminates imminent dangers as well as anything that could prove catastrophic down the road. Simply relocate said card from hand to graveyard.

• Counterspell is now Modern legal. Take a moment to let that sink in.

Use this catch all spell to maintain board presence in our favor. Also, feel free to leave two Island s untapped even when you don’t have this card in hand, just to watch your opponent fidget with worry.

• Mana Leak will fizzle most plays Turns 2-4, but be wary of complacency. Green Ramp and the occasional lucky Tron deck can sidestep this baby counterspell. Still, the majority of the time it’s a ‘fire and forget it’ card.

• Remand can give some momentary breathing room to recover from a possible setback. You might just draw that card you’ve been looking for, too.

Update: With the upcoming release of Modern Horizons 2 and the legalization of Counterspell , Remand has been relegated to the Sideboard to make room for it.

•Triggering Fatal Push ought to be no issue whatsoever; fetchlands or weak 1 drops being steamrolled (looking at you, Gravecrawler ) enable an early game Push, and once the Pyre is lit and we start turning over zombies for profit you can Fatal Push to your heart’s content.

Necromantic One-Upsmanship

Right. So this was the turning point wherein things really began to take shape. I knew I wanted the deck to align with my two favorite colors, and I knew I wanted to win through traditional creature damage as opposed to an ‘outside the box’ wincon—but the deck lacked a key method to achieve all the above. Once I settled on a strategy of systematically—and reliably—churning out increasingly better zombies, everything sort of fell into place. To that end we have 2 separate systems that can operate in unison, or independently if luck of the draw just isn’t in our favor.

• Aether Vial (thank god we finally got a version with appealing artwork!) will start zombie production the very next turn after it’s played; multiple copies in play kicks mass production into overdrive.

• Pyre of Heroes will put you behind the wheel of a new zombie today! When the lease is up on your current corpse, simply trade it in for next year’s new and improved model. Like Dwight K. Schrute trading his way from a used thumbtack all the way up to a telescope, Pyre of Heroes will only bestow increasing value to what we plop down on the table in front of us. Just be wary of Professor Copperfield and his Miracle Legumes!

The Ambling Shamblers

Selecting the right rotting corpses to get the job done wasn’t easy. Multiple factors had to be weighed. We need zombies on curve; we need good utility from our undead; we need some sort of Win-Con. It took a bit of perusing through the plentiful number of Modern legal Redeads (Shrieeeeeeeek!!) but I settled on what I feel to be an effective cavalcade of the recently disinterred. In ascending order we have:

• Gravecrawler , our 1 drop, is one of my all time favorite MtG creatures. Absolutely brilliant design behind this little guy. He’ll see the most use early on, but we’ll be sure to see him again, and again, and again...

•If the opponent thought our 1 drop overstayed his welcome, wait until they meet our 2 drop. Relentless Dead , master of the “pop-in”, will make Cosmo Kramer seem antisocial. News gets worse for the opponent— Relentless Dead ’s friends start to pick up his bad habits. Not only does our 2 drop have recursive abilities, but he can bestow that gift to any of our other zombies.

•We start to bring out the big guns when Diregraf Captain hits the table. This lord comes replete with Deathtouch, buffs all of our other zombies with an extra +1/+1, and starts to put the hurt on with his 3rd characteristic—whenever any of our zombies dies, including being sacrificed (!), our opponent will lose 1 life. As we’ll soon see, that life loss will start to add up quickly.

•For our 4 drop I’ve decided to go with Korlash, Heir to Blackblade . Depending on how we’re situated for land, this guy can come out BIG. Oh, and he regenerates. Oh, and drawing a second or third copy will make a big impact on the boardstate. Grandeur, indeed.

Great art on this card, either version—it makes me long for the days before WotC pledged devotion to the religion of Magic Marker & Microsoft Paint :(

•At last we come to our resident alpha zombie, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born . Again, this artwork is a sight to behold. The biggest, baddest zombie in our deck comes with some strict baggage, but it won’t be an issue for us. We want to sacrifice our recursive weaklings to fuel Grimgrin’s insatiable appetite. With Diregraf Captain afield each sacrifice drains the opponent’s life pool, all the while inflating Grimgrin’s power and toughness. Then when he attacks we get the privilege of eradicating a creature of our choice on the spot—while placing yet another +1/+1 counter on our general. Insult; meet injury.

By this time we’ll have a boardstate boasting a collection of cadaverous cohorts able to inflict damage a variety of ways, and with varying levels of potency. With Grimgrin leading the charge, we should be able to overwhelm the opponent.

TL;DR

•Play Aether Vial Turn 1 if possible, then focus on controlling the boardstate in the opening turns through Preemptive and Proactive removal spells

•Turn 2 cast Pyre of Heroes and start working your way up through the zombie hierarchy until Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is in play

•Sacrifice and return to play recursive zombies to pump up Grimgrin, while draining life through Diregraf Captain , then attack with a monstrously powerful Grimgrin.

The Sideboard

Right now the Sideboard consists of additional countermagic and some zombie candidates that didn’t quite make it into the maindeck. I’m open to any good suggestions.

• Remand is great at fizzling pesky spells in the early game, but with Counterspell now legal it can’t quite compete with its big brother. It’s still an excellent card in its own right, so it holds a place here in the sideboard in case more control is necessary in certain matchups.

•lagotripha provided some insightful comments, highlighting the potential value of including some additional low cmc creatures. Cryptbreaker and Undead Augur both offer great utility. Advice much appreciated!

• Perplex is a beartrap of a counterspell; sure, you could get out of it—but the price is steep.

Note: At the behest of zapyourtumor, I’m foregoing Perplex in favor of Drown in the Loch . It was brought out that in mid to late game scenarios, this card will undoubtedly perform better than the previous spell, so it’s best to have it in case it’s needed. I’m very grateful for the advice; anything to increase the competitive edge is much appreciated!

• Carrion Feeder was a contender for our 1 drop slot, but its lack of recursion gave it the bump in favor of Gravecrawler . Nevertheless, I could still see potential value in the long term, since he can function as a baby Grimgrin in the early game.

In the end I’ll most likely run a more traditional sideboard boasting the likes of Surgical Extraction , Tormod's Crypt and other staples.

”There will be a rotting away of one’s flesh...and one’s very eyes will rot away in their sockets, and one’s very tongue will rot away in one’s mouth.”

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 2 years ago
Date added	2 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 24 - 2 Rares 8 - 13 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.05
Jetons	Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Modern, Modern Decks, Cool Deck Ideas, Decks I Like