Hail ZOMBO - Zombies Combo

Commander / EDH* Aggro Combo UB (Dimir) Zombie

smack80

Creature (43)

• 1x Acererak the Archlich
• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Balthor the Defiled
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Forgotten Creation
• 1x Geralf's Mindcrusher
• 1x Gloomdrifter
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1x Miasmic Mummy
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mire Triton
• 1x Murderous Rider
• 1x Nightscape Familiar
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Possessed Skaab
• 1x Prized Amalgam
• 1x Rot Hulk
• 1x Rotting Rats
• 1x Sedraxis Alchemist
• 1x Selhoff Entomber
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Skinrender
• 1x Stitcher's Supplier
• 1x Stronghold Assassin
• 1x Undead Augur
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Vengeful Pharaoh
• 1x Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
• 1x Withered Wretch

Land (38)

• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Drownyard Temple
• 5x Island
• 1x Jwar Isle Refuge
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Murkwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x River of Tears
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 12x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x Watery Grave

Instant (4)

• 1x Forbidden Alchemy
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Nameless Inversion
• 1x Otherworldly Gaze

Commander (1)

Artifact (8)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Delirium Skeins
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Dread Summons
• 1x Flux
• 1x Patriarch's Bidding
• 1x Zombie Apocalypse

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Rooftop Storm
• 1x Tombstone Stairwell

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Maybeboard

Creature (17)

• 1x Agent of Erebos
• 1x Archghoul of Thraben
• 1x Champion of the Perished
• 1x Cleaver Skaab
• 1x Corpse Connoisseur
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Gravespawn Sovereign
• 1x Hordewing Skaab
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Master of Death
• 1x Overcharged Amalgam
• 1x Poxwalkers
• 1x Ravenous Rotbelly
• 1x Repository Skaab
• 1x Tomebound Lich
• 1x Undead Butler
• 1x Vile Entomber

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Contingency Plan
• 1x Dark Deal
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Discovery / Dispersal
• 1x Eaten Alive
• 1x Empty the Laboratory
• 1x Kindred Dominance
• 1x Necromantic Selection
• 1x Never / Return
• 1x Sever the Bloodline
• 1x Syphon Flesh
• 1x Windfall

Instant (7)

• 1x Consider
• 1x Curate
• 1x Dream Twist
• 1x Flip the Switch
• 1x Murderous Cut
• 1x Sauron's Ransom
• 1x Thought Scour

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Kindred Discovery

Artifact (1)

• 1x Embalmer's Tools

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Many good and powerful zombies were considered but did not make the cut. Gravespawn sovereign, Geralf's Messenger, Ghoulcaller Gisa, Relentless dead were all considered but they just don't serve a purpose here.

This deck plays just enough resource denial via discard, gums up the battlefield with creatures who can win by attacking and blocking, but is light on creature removal. This deck can recur a Fleshbag Marauder or feed tokens to a Stronghold Assassin or Noxious Ghoul or drop a Gloomdrifter (yes, it's a zombie!), but doesn't play oppresively. I generally make all of my decks light on creature removal and especially light on board wipes because they often just slow the game down with no purpose or other immediate win condition, they aren't fun for anyone. I prefer to beat creature decks with creatures.

The first goal of this deck is to fill the graveyard with zombies and reanimate them all at once. Spells that fill the graveyard inclue the commander Gisa and Geralf, Necromancer's Stockpile, Flux, Windfall, Mesmeric Orb, Stinkweed Imp, Dakmor Salvage, Forbidden Alchemy, Frantic Search, Dread Summons, and Delirium Skeins. Many of these cards also help you filter to draw lands.

When the graveyard is full enough, it can be reanimated by cards such as Zombie Apocalypse, Balthor the Defiled and Patriarch's Bidding. Tombstone Stairwell is like a mass reanimation spell, and don't be afraid of the symmetrical effect, your deck will make better use of the zpmbie tokens than your opponent's.

Sometimes when playing and reanimating zombies, you stumble into an infinite combo. It contains many infinite combos that depend on zombies, rather than just jamming in helm/line or some other standard EDH combo. Assembling combo pieces can be the work of Sidisi, Undead Vizier or a mass reanimation spell. Many of the combo pieces have redundancy and act as perfectly fine zombie attackers and blockers. The combo pieces are highly modular and can be combined any number of ways, and no one piece is essential, though every combo has one of two cards: mikeaus, the unhallowed or Rooftop Storm.

mikeaus, the unhallowed combos with creatures that can put -1/-1 counters on themselves to reset the Undying mechanic (there is a game rule stating that if a creature has a +1/+1 and a -1/-1 counter, both are removed). There are two creatures that do this: Skinrender and Plague Belcher. These creatures, with Mikeaus in play, can be sacrificed repeatedly for no cost.

This loop is performed with a sacrifice outlet and possibly a triggered ability if the sacrifice outlet will not win the game on its own. Altar of Dementia mills the opponents immediately. Carrion Feeder and GrimGrim Corpse-Born can become arbitrarily large and smash face. However when repeatedly sacrificing a zombie, if any one of Plague Belcher, Vengeful Dead, or Diregraf Captain are in play, then these creatures trigger to drain your opponents of all life.

Rooftop Storm combos may share some of the same pieces. The triggered abilities and sacrifice outlets are used with Gravecrawler if Mikeaus is not in play. Storm with Gravecrawler and a sacrifice outlet and another zombie also combos with Bontu's Monument to drain all opponents of their life. Rooftop storm with Sedraxis Alchemist can bounce itself repeatedly and be recast for free, and if Bontu's Monument is in play, it can drain opponents for all life. Alternately, Diregraf Colossus will create an arbitrarily large number of zombie tokens.

Haakon, stromgld scourge is another engine piece. It can allow you to cast Nameless Inversion from the graveyard over and over to control your opponent's creatures or make yours hit harder. Diregraf Colossus sees this spell as a zombie (he doesn't look for zombie creatures, only zombie spells). Haakon can cast Josu Vess, Lich Knight or Marauding Knight (also a zombie) from your graveyard when Gisa and Geralf are not around. If you have Rooftop Storm and a Knights package and a sacrifice outlet, you can repeatedly cast any knight with Haakon around to win the game, or Haakon himself if you can handle the life loss.

Even if you can't generate an infinite combo, Tombstone Stairwell, especially with Mesmeric Orb in play can generate a dozen or so zombies on each player's turn which while not infinite, can be enough to get the job done. Read Tombstone Stairwell carefly with Vengeful Dead

Like any graveyard-based deck, this deck loses a lot of resources to cheap graveyard hate. I honestly think that it's a design flaw of magic that Dredge and other graveyard strategies are so OP but stopped so hard by cheap graveyard hate. I would much rather play magic in a world where there was no OP graveyard strategies, no spells that could reanimate a dozen creature at a time, and no 0-mana spells that exiled a whole graveyard. It just feels like rock-paper-scissors.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	2 months
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	102
Avg. CMC	3.23
Tokens	Dungeon: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Dungeon: Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dungeon: Tomb of Annihilation, Goblin 1/1 R, Skeleton 1/1 B, The Atropal, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Haste, Zombie Knight 2/2 B
Based on	GISA AND GERALF RETURN!!! copy smack80 EDH