Spitfire69 - I want to ask what is the goal for this deck? Are you going for a casual kitchen table game or are you trying to make this deck as competitive as possible? I feel like that answer slightly changes any help that may be provided.

First off, I have not been playing MTG for take any advice I provide with a grain of salt but when I look at this zombie deck it feels very slow and clumsy. You have a CMC of 3.80, which seems very high, are running a decent amount of lands that enter the field tapped, and have almost no interaction cards from and I such as Inquisition of Kozilek or Counterspell to mess with your opponent. I feel like Modern is usually pretty fast or needs lots of interaction if you want the game to past turn 6-7. I would recommend you try to slim up the deck on some of the high CMC cards as those are likely just going to be drawn and not able to be cast for a while so you only want a few of those in the deck if they are crucial to the deck. Otherwise, really focus in on the synergy of the lower cost creatures, spells, and enchantments.

Zombies usually excel in early pressure and do have a lot of natural graveyard synergy so I do like your deck theme and feel like there is merit there. For instance, Gravecrawler would be a great addition!

Hopefully something I mentioned was hopefully but good luck and happy brewing!

ash_whi - You might also consider Mox Amber. Hopefully that has some potential with this deck!

Goldbloodedsf - Thanks for the upvote! I am actively working on the Abzan version of this deck (Beyond the Grave (Abzan)) but am planning working on this on after as there is a lot of untapped potential still for this deck. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I would love to hear them though!

squiGGhetti - We will see about dropping Fiend Artisan. It was a recent addition as well so have not really felt it out yet. It is the only card that is not a knight in the deck so I would like to see it disappear for that reason but you know how it is...just takes time and games to feel out card combos. A possible replacement would be Acclaimed Contender as it is the only knight that provide a "searching" mechanic that I am aware of. If I do drop it, I would like to keep the creature count high for Collected Company too otherwise that because not as effective and would almost need to drop that :(

squiGGhetti - Still way to early for anything concrete but played a round or two with Pyre of Heroes replacing the 2xEldritch Evolution and started with it in hand for a game...I really like it. I had Midnight Reaper out and the ability to sacrifice weaker creatures to draw out larger ones plus the draws Midnight Reaper was providing is pretty sweet. I think you may be onto something with suggesting that to me as it does seem to fit in very nicely with the deck. Glad I checked out your cleric deck!

squiGGhetti - Since Nameless Inversion is a shapeshifter tribal instant, it is technically a knight which means when Haakon is on the field, I can cast it from my graveyard again and again and again as long as I have mana to cast it. That is why I love it for this deck. It is cheap removal with essentially unlimited Flashback.

Hmmm...I see your point with the fetch lands and Knight of the Reliquary. Play four fetch lands and you remove eight lands from the deck increase the odds of not drawing a land when you do not want to draw land. With the tutoring ability of the deck, perhaps I will add a single copy of Knight of the Reliquary back in. As I mentioned, I originally had her but dropped her for other creatures.

I wanted this deck to focus less on the self-mill/discard as I felt that was more of the strength of the Mardu version of the deck (which I will eventually work on similar to this deck). I was wanting this deck to focus on other methods of getting Haakon out. I am seeing your point with Pyre of Heroes, I do think I will be very happy with that in the deck. I will likely drop Eldritch Evolution and add in Pyre of Heroes in the near future and see how it performs, then I can actually make some edits with confidence!

Only reason I am running a full playset of Haakon is just to maximize the ability of finding him but you are right that with the amount of "tutoring" I have perhaps I could drop it down to three copies.

I will see what direction the deck takes for the 20 land argument. If vials stay in, I think you have a valid argument but if I drop a copy or all, I think the land count will likely stay the same.

Thanks again for all the feedback, really enjoying it!

squiGGhetti - Good stuff! Thanks for taking a look!

Hmmm...maybe I will drop the filter lands like Twilight Mire, Wooded Bastion, and Fetid Heath and double the shock lands I am currently running. I will say I have had games where I start with like 3 lands in my hand but they only can generate colorless mana which kills the hand. Adding the shock lands would give me more to fetch and still provides me the option to play fast or treat it as a tap land if speed is not of the essence. I am not sure on dropping it down to only 20 lands though, with an average CMC of 2.23, I want to hedge that bet. 21 lands is pretty optimal for starting with 2-3 lands in hand with good odds of drawing an additional land in the next three turns making it so the deck SHOULD be able to play anything by turn 4...should being the key word...

Two people now pushing for Unearth now huh? I do like the card as it provides a cheap return for a 3 CMC creature or provides you a draw if not needed but I am just not understanding why it seems like a good fit for this deck. Generally, I have a lot of ways to cheat or force Haakon, Stromgald Scourge to the field and at that point, as long as he is not exiled, I can continue to cast him or another as needed. Can you expand on why Unearth is a good fit?

You are not wrong that there are better removal spells out there than Nameless Inversion. I mean Dismember comes to mind for a similar card that is more effective and potentially less mana intensive to boot! However, what I LOVE about Nameless Inversion is its ability to be recast over and over. Bar Hexproof this can remove any creature from the board if I have the mana for it or I can remove multiple weaker creatures on the same turn. Trust me, if the game last more that 5-6 turns, Nameless Inversion will greatly outplay any other standard removal spell out there in this deck.

I do love Collected Company. I built my first tribal knight deck around it (For Honor and Glory!!!) and try to find a place for it where ever I can! I was running a full playset but dropped two copies to make room for Eldritch Evolution as I wanted to try that out to see how it faired. Now you have caused the dilemma of having to test drive Pyre of Heroes as well!

Agreed on Knight of Autumn. She is actually the only reason I created this Abzan version of the Haakon deck. The original was the Mardu version but I lover her versatility. Few things are more rewarding that watching my opponent cast a high CMC enchantment or artifact only to destroy it with Knight of Autumn!

On the debate of Pyre of Heroes vs Eldritch Evolution I think you may be right...I like the idea of being able to cast it T2 and use it on T3 with any creature I sacrifice being able to be resurrected whenever I desire. Definitely going to try it out over the next couple of weeks as it as merit. Not sure I would drop Aether Vial for it though, those free up my mana for dropping creatures and spells or just let me drop multiple creatures per turn if needed.

Two of the four honorary mentions you listed originally were in the deck. I dropped Knight of the Ebon Legion and Knight of the Reliquary as they just did not feel optimal in this deck. Murderous Rider is great but when he dies he gets shuffled into the library which is counter-productive for this deck but I do love that card. I have a similar relationship with Knights' Charge, love the card on principal but just seems so slow in practice. I do see your point though in terms of it having some merit in a aggro knight deck built around letting creatures die or be sacrificed...I will add that to the maybe list...liking it more as I think about the possibilities.

Sorry for the long comment but thanks for the feedback and suggestions! As I mentioned, good stuff!

squiGGhetti - I tried a legacy game once via MTGO...I do not think I will venture down that rabbit hole again! So many powerful cards from days of yore...it is fun to slowly optimize a deck though. A bit painful at times but generally that is what brought me back to MTG!

If you want to take a look at my "similar" themed deck(s), here is a link to the deck I was talking about Beyond the Grave (Abzan). Generally the deck is trying to get out Haakon, Stromgald Scourge early and keep him on the field via creature cheating mechanics so I can swing very loosely with other knights. Never expect it to be super competitive but it is slowly improving! Any thoughts you have on it would be appreciated as this why my attempt to expand my knowledge of the game with one of my favorite tribes.

squiGGhetti - I like the deck, a friend of mine plays a similar themed deck but this one looks more competitive at the expense of additional cost.

I have a similar similar themed deck I am currently working on that revolves graveyard yank, reanimation, and sacrificing creatures and wanted to hear your thoughts on Pyre of Heroes vs Eldritch Evolution. Pyre of Heroes looks nice as you can continue to use it multiple times to tutor for the card you need but Eldritch Evolution can pull a stronger creature out faster. Just curious on your take.

to_regatha_and_beyond - It is slowly getting better with some of the changes. There is definitely some synergy that if not properly dealt with in a timely manner, can present issues for a lot of deck types.

I do love the Indatha Triome but I only run a single copy as I dislike how it enters tapped which kinda slows things down. Being able to tutor it T1 if I do not have any other great plays is a good move though and pretty consistent, but I am not sure I want to add additional copies of that for the tapped reason. Geier Reach Sanitarium I have mixed feelings about as I have to pay to get a draw and I also give my opponent a draw...I might end up dropping this in exchange for something else...maybe some pain lands :)

I am "fairly" new to MTG but isn't a shock land a subset of pain lands? Or what pain lands were you thinking I should add? I was thinking of adding Horizon Canopy as I just noticed I was not running that and thought I was. Must have removed it to make room for Geier Reach Sanitarium

Thanks for the suggestions! If you think of anything else, I am all ears!

BrantMTG - Looks like lots of tweaking over the last few weeks, still really like the deck list thought. Out of curiousity, have you ever got the meld of the two angels to work? I feel like without tutoring, you would be better off replacing those two with something else instead.

Balaam__ - Another great deck! I see you rotate your decks through but each is always unique and I always need think to myself, “I would hate to play this, it looks so smooth!”. Keep ‘‘em coming!

RedTrashMammal - I am going to echo DreadKhan here and state that unless it is a crucial piece of the deck, avoid high CMC cost like the plague for Modern. You have access to soooo many cards that most decks will just run circles around you by turn 6-7. Most lifegain themed decks revolve around low cost creatures that get pumped when you gain life or have excess life and this should likely be your focus. Creatures like Voice of the Blessed, Righteous Valkyrie, Archangel of Thune, Resplendent Angel, etc are some of the ones that come to mind when I think lifegain.

Just looking at your creatures some seem out of place considering you say this is a lifegain deck. Tine Shrike, Rustwing Falcon, Makindi Patrol, Makindi Aeronaut, Fortified Rampart, Expedition Envoy...none of these creatures have any lifegain synergy and could be ether dropped or replaced. The same is true with many of your instants/sorceries, enchantments. They are not bad cards just not optimized for what you said you are trying to accomplish.

If you do cut down the deck, make sure you cut down your lands as well. You will likely need 21-24 depending on the average CMC of the deck but pulling some of those means less overall cards you need to drop :)

Good luck and happy brewing!

Lucrative1020 - I really like some of the potential combos you have going on with the deck. Lots of token creation paired with some cards that pump when sacrifice occurs and the heavy hitting Dictate of Erebos in a sac deck is killer. I am dabbling in a vampire aristocrat themed deck as well at the moment (Sucks to Suck (Aristocrat)) and really like the idea of adding Pawn of Ulamog as that would potentially give me more creatures to sac...had not that of that as a contender so thanks! I am jsut imagining sacing tokens with Cordial Vampire in play for a quick powerup and mana generation...

In regard to your deck, how often do you actually get to use Dictate of Erebos or Mycoloth? With Dictate, that is a wincon for sure but pretty high CMC and only running 2 copies will be pretty rare to see it in a game. The same is true with Mycoloth and it does not have the same protection as being an enchantment. Had you considered maybe adding Parallel Lives as a way to generate more tokens to sac?

chilbi - Thanks for the upvote! If you have any thoughts on or suggestions for the deck be it positive or negative, I would love to hear them!

BrantMTG - I like your take on the angel tribe deck with a focus on lifegain and token creation.

If I were to offer up my initial thoughts on improving the deck, I feel like you likely need another land or two to make this deck more consistent. You are running a number of cards like Starnheim Aspirant to accelerate the deck and make the angels more playable sooner but the average CMC of the deck is 3.05 and you are only running 20 lands. Maybe adding in 2xNykthos, Shrine to Nyx would be a good fit.

Also, I feel like not running any removal may hurt you in the long run. has a lot of ways to exile creatures or destroy artifacts/enchantments, some of which may be more of a sideboard but not having any in a deck that will likely be slow to get off the ground and/or slow to rebuild from a board wipe likely will lead to lots of near victory games.

Lastly, on the topic of additional draws, Well of Lost Dreams or Dawn of Hope are killer in lifegain decks as they keep your hand full. I personally like Well of Lost Dreams better but that is more in mid-range decks.

Anyways, good stuff! Happy Brewing!