Varina, CycLich Queen

Commander / EDH Discard WUB (Esper) Zombie

Phosphene

Instant (25)

• 1x Ancient Excavation
• 1x Angelsong
• 1x Choking Tethers
• 1x Clear
• 1x Countervailing Winds
• 1x Djeru's Renunciation
• 1x Empty the Pits
• 1x Expunge
• 1x Forsake the Worldly
• 1x Gleam of Resistance
• 1x Hieroglyphic Illumination
• 1x Keep Watch
• 1x Mage's Guile
• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Radiant's Judgment
• 1x Rebuild
• 1x Rescind
• 1x Shadow of the Grave
• 1x Split Decision
• 1x Swat
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Traumatic Visions
• 1x Wipe Clean
• 1x Without Weakness

Artifact (9)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Diviner's Wand
• 1x Fluctuator
• 1x Library of Leng
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Land (35)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Bad River
• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Flood Plain
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 6x Island
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 2x Plains
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Snow-Covered Plains
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Cast Out
• 1x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Drake Haven
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Faith of the Devoted
• 1x Kindred Discovery
• 1x New Perspectives
• 1x Sanguine Bond

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Akroma's Vengeance
• 1x Approach of the Second Sun
• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x From Under the Floorboards
• 1x Harsh Mercy
• 1x Hour of Reckoning
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Migratory Route
• 1x Razaketh's Rite
• 1x Rise from the Tides
• 1x Unearth
• 1x Wander in Death
• 1x Windfall

Creature (8)

• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Gempalm Polluter
• 1x Gleaming Overseer
• 1x Jhessian Zombies
• 1x Keeper of Keys
• 1x Psychosis Crawler
• 1x Twisted Abomination
• 1x Wonder

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This is a cycle deck with a zombie token side theme. The goal of the deck is to get value and damage while cycling our cards. If this doesn't work, we have our zombie army to beat down our opponents.

Cards that we want in play to start discarding like crazy are Drake Haven or Faith of the Devoted to create tokens are drain some life.

First thing to note is that Varina, Lich Queen ability helps us draw and discard cards when we swing our zombies. Psychosis Crawler will also help us drain life as we cycle our cards. There are some cards that will help us cycle our cards more effectively such as New Perspectives , Fluctuator and Library of Leng to chose where we put our cards. Archfiend of Ifnir will also greatly benefit from all our cycling.

Varina, Lich Queen second part of text of her first ability will also be used with cards like Sanguine Bond and Well of Lost Dreams .

To maximize Varina, Lich Queen draw and discard ability we will need to create some zombies. For that we will use cards like Rise from the Tides , wich will also benefit from the amount of cycle cards we have to put in our graveyard, From Under the Floorboards , Field of the Dead , Endless Ranks of the Dead , Empty the Pits , Curse of Disturbance , Army of the Damned .

If we have a lot of zombies and some of our discard values cards, our attack phase can be devastating to our opponents.

We also put Approach of the Second Sun in the deck since we often draw much more that seven cards in a single turn.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 30 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.62
Tokens	Bird 1/1 W, Drake 2/2 U, The Monarch, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	Inspirational card choices