Junk Zombies OM NOM NOM!!
Standard*
SCORE: 31 | 24 COMMENTS | 12285 VIEWS | IN 10 FOLDERS
Mini-Tournament: 2nd. Place —May 14, 2013
We had a small six-man tournament on Monday so people could test stuff out in preparation for States. I ended up getting second place, although I could have done a lot better had I been a bit more aggressive with my mulligans.
Round One: Jund Aggro
I lose the first game after getting nuked by Falkenrath Aristocrat and Dreg Mangler. I drew a lot of removal (two Abrupt Decay and two Orzhov Charm), but was stuck on two lands and unable to establish board position. Game two I open with Deathrite Shaman into a sideboarded Blind Obedience. Half his deck ceases to function and he's forced to scavenge things onto Varolz, the Scar-Striped. My Lotleth Troll blocks and regenerates all day and keeps me alive at five life. Eventually, I draw Dreg Mangler, discard my hand to Lotleth Troll, and swing for game. Game three I have three Vampire Nighthawk in my opening hand and I just race him and win the round 2-1.
Round Two: Esper Superfriends
I misplay, forgetting to cast Gravecrawler in my second main phase, which costs me game one. He was at three life and I had an emblem from Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. He casts Jace, Memory Adept to mill me out, finishing me off with Nephalia Drownyard. Game two I curve out with Gravecrawler, Blood Scrivener, and Dreg Mangler. Game three, I open with Appetite for Brains, spotting two Supreme Verdict and a Restoration Angel. I decide to kill the Restoration Angel so I can just race. I play through the Supreme Verdicts with Grave Crawler and Geralf's Messenger, winning 2-1.
Round Three: White Weenie
I should have mulliganed game one because I was horribly off-tempo with Cavern of Souls, Isolated Chapel, and Woodland Cemetery as my three lands. I open with Diregraf Ghoul, but I'm unable to cast any of my removal to take care of Silverblade Paladin soulbonded with Elite Inquisitor. Game two is a draw after some technicalities. Game three he plays two Sublime Archangel, which I'm unable to deal with and I lose 0-2.
Semifinals: Jund Aggro
Same person as round one. In our first game, I win using Sorin, Lord of Innistrad to block all day with vampire tokens. I end up swinging for game using Lotleth Troll. Game two, he's forced to mulligan down to four after seeing no hands with land. I win 2-0.
Finals: American Midrange
Game one, he plays two Boros Reckoner. We sit in a stalemate as he's unable to attack into Geralf's Messenger and Lotleth Troll. He eventually casts Restoration Angel and wins the game by killing me in the air. Game two, he plays two Boros Reckoner and I kill both with Abrupt Decay. I ended up racing him with a lonely Diregraf Ghoul, but it gets damage in and wins. Game three, he uses Snapcaster Mage to cast Searing Spear twice to clean out my board. I get mana flooded and don't draw any answers as he finishes me off with Boros Reckoner.
My second place prize is two booster packs which gives me a Blood Scrivener and my third Beck / Call. I'm REALLY tempted to build U/G combo elves in Modern...
Some thoughts:
I think a singleton Temple Garden is going to have to go back into the deck in place of a Swamp. The only cards it can't help cast are Gravecrawler, Diregraf Ghoul, and Geralf's Messenger, but still casts the other 75% of the deck.
Blood Scrivener has been a little underwhelming mainboard. I'm going to drop the number of them down or cut them entirely. Knight of Infamy and Putrefy are probably better choices.
I have a similar deck to this and I was wondering do you like Slitherhead
. The only reason I even bring him up is because I do not see him on your maybe board. I love him, throw him out turn 1 chump block then make dredge mangler a 4/4 haste. You might not decide to use it but it is defiantly worth considering. I love him with lotleth especially.
May 11, 2013 4:34 p.m.
@bluemax87: I just wanted to include explanations for each card in the main deck and why I include them in the deck. The FNM updates are mostly for myself to see what matchups I have to improve on. I've logged over 100 games on here. I wish Tappedout had a separate section where I could make notes and this up a bit.
Junk is a really fun color combination right now in Standard. I love the utility it gives while being able to lay down some beat face.
@tarnash: Slitherhead is much better on paper than he is in practice. He was one of the first cards I tried out in this deck when I first made it. Sure, he's a nice chump block, but Diregraf Ghoul is a much stronger blocker, especially when you're on the play. Gravecrawler makes it so you don't even worry about blocking because of how offensive he is.
That means Slitherhead competes with Deathrite Shaman for the one-drop slot. Deathrite Shaman is both a strong chump blocker and really good at doing damage and gaining life.
May 11, 2013 9:30 p.m.
Hey sylvannos, I've been using your deck as a benchmark to test my own brews against. I finally won a match and was wondering if you'd take a look at my build and see how it plays out? War is a drug... It may have been a fluke, but your deck did get me down to 1 life in game one before I came back and in game two it got me down to 2 life before I came back...
bluemax87 says... #1
Dude, solid build! I love the read-me you've created (I'll be honest, I scrolled and realized how long it was and stopped reading after a bit). I've recently come back into MTG after a hiatus and Zombies was my thing back in the day. I wanted to try something different, as you saw with my Grixis list, but I just may have to copy this list in its entirety just to play it and see how I feel about making it "my own" so to speak. You have a really solid build here, and you were right, it demolished my Grixis list! Lots of things for me to consider now, and thanks again for your input on my list!
+1 BTW
May 11, 2013 10:36 a.m.