Zombie Hordes Ccross the Ages

Zombie Hordes Across the Ages

by Simon Driel

In my last article I discovered an uncommon gem hidden inside the new Amonkhet set; Wayward Servant, pictured all the way over on the right. This bear has those two phrases I love in triggered abilities, "whenever" and "each opponent" and given that zombies are white, and this isn't a new thing, I thought I'd see exactly what a commander deck featuring black & white zombies would look like. Token decks regularly proliferate across the Commander tables at Rabblemaster Games, but most of them feature green and Craterhoof Behemoth - that colour is off the table here, so as usual we'll set our goals before starting the building process, and see what develops from there!

This isn't a complex deck; Zombies have a limited understanding of strategy, so there aren't too many goals they won't be able to follow

#1: Go wide! Any horror movie buff knows that a single zombie doesn't pose much of a threat; the real problem begins with a ravenous horde of them. We won't be looking at Sutured Ghoul or any of those other oversized monstrosities, but rather attempting to overwhelm our opponents with sheer numbers.

#2 Be relentless! Zombies that die a final death should provide fuel for more zombies. It's an endless cycle of death, life, and hopefully more death. Of the opponents!

#3 Focus on triggered abilities - there's going to be a LOT of zombies hitting the battlefield, many of them not long for this world, as withered remains are usually pretty fragile and vulnerable to a good head-shot. We should be benefiting on arrival and departure!

#4 Use Amonkhet cards; there's a new set out shortly, full of zombies, if you haven't heard! I'd love to find at least ten - I'm not a shill for Wizards, by any means, but...
NEW ZOMBIES!

Let's begin:

"Each upkeep, trigger Suture Priest once
for each creature in each player's
graveyard. At the end of each player's turn,
set off that many Blood Artist triggers" HA!
With Dictate of Erebos out nobody else will
even stand a chance of sticking a creature.
Bring enchantment removal, boys & girls...

Horrible Zombie Hordes

Gravecrawler

Coffin Queen
Carrion Feeder

Corpse Connoisseur

Corpse Harvester

Cryptbreaker

Diregraf Colossus

Filth

Fleshbag Marauder

Graveborn Muse

Grey Merchant of Asphodel

Nantuko Husk

Plague Belcher

Pontiff of Blight

Relentless Dead

Shepherd of Rot

Wayward Servant

Zombie Trailblazer

Nasty Zombie Lords

Buffs zombie hordes? check
Return from graveyard trigger? check again
Actual zombie? Maybe if he's wearing a
Nim Deathmantle...

Cemetery Reaper

Lord of the Undead

Death Baron

Liliana's Mastery

Lord of the Accursed

Mikaeus the Unhallowed

Path of Bravery

Ravos, Soultender

Risen Executioner

Undead Warchief

Zombie Master

Things that make lots of Zombies

From Under the Floorboards

Army of the Damned

Endless Ranks of the Dead

Necromancer's Covenant

Tombstone Stairwell

Grave Titan

Ghoulcaller Gisa

One day I will build a Commander deck
that doesn't include this card.              
Today will not be that day, however!      

Overseer of the Damned

Anointed Procession

Necessary in a zombie deck

Zombie Apocalypse

Liliana, Death's Majesty

Rise from the Grave

Call to the Grave

Benefiting when things happen

Suture Priest

Blood Seeker

Blood Artist

Anointer Priest

Zulaport Cutthroat

Cathars' Crusade

Carnival of Souls

Dictate of Erebos

Wingmate Roc

Sanguine Bond

My vote for the best invocation artwork;
the frames for the black invocations seem
to hit just the right note for me

Trespasser's Curse
Throne of the God-Pharaoh
Nim Deathmantle

Finding things

Diabolic Intent (invocation)
Entomb (invocation)
Buried Alive

Mana

Sol Ring
Orzhov Signet
Mind Stone
Charcoal Diamond
Expedition Map
Ashnod's Altar
Caged Sun

Land

Unholy Grotto

Don't make a zombie deck without this one!
Unless it's a Standard or Modern deck...      

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Cabal Coffers
Crypt of Agadeem
Shambling Vent
Isolated Chapel
Godless Shrine
Marsh Flats
Temple of Silence
Caves of Koilos
Vault of the Archangel
Barren Moor
Secluded Steppe
Ghost Quarter (sold the store's last Strip Mine!)
Tectonic Edge
Lake of the Dead
Deserted Temple
12 Swamp
7 Plains

That'll do it, readers.

Let's chuck Ravos, Soultender in charge, since he's the only black & white legendary in the entire list, and it doesn't demand a specific commander.

Visceral horror, to be sure, but is thirteen drain triggers off an Army of the Damned the most broken thing you can do in Commander? Not by a long shot, but I've already made a Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck that went infinite in nine different ways. No need for that kind of nonsense today - she's off the list, despite an absolutely brutal interaction with Tombstone Stairwell.

Seriously, generals, if you see me play this card, just kill it. Don't let it see an upkeep!

We'll see you round the tables at Rabblemaster Games

The Gods of Amonkhet

The Gods of Amonkhet

Tom is back, and with the release of Amonkhet close at hand he's going to be looking and all the neat new legendary creatures that you're bound to see in the command zone in the next few weeks.

I love release season. Aside from the new exciting cards and mechanics being displayed, it's also great for the commander players. Even if your Legendary Creature pick for the set is no more than Trash in Standard and Modern, they can easily find a home in Commander. And that's exactly why it's my favourite format. It's a home for those wayward cards that can't find a home anywhere else. But you're not here to hear about my adoration for a Magic format, you're here to see me break down the legendary creatures, so in no particular order, let's kick this off!

The Pantheon of Gods

God of Weenies

Oketra the True is probably my pick for Commander of all the Gods. 

A 3/6 body with Double Strike and Indestructible is huge for four mana, and getting her online isn't a hard call, as a white deck should have plenty of ways to do this. And besides, her activated ability helps her become a creature (As with all the gods) and is surprisingly good at it, since the tokens also have Vigilance, making them really good for buffing up and swinging in.

With keywords like this, she proves resilient to removal, and Double strike effectively doubles any buffs she gets. For this reason, I'd like to think she fits well as an equipment voltron commander, which a token subtheme.

If you were to build an Voltron deck with Oketra the Fair, the following list will provide a basic framework to build from and some example of cards to play.

Kemba, Kha Regent	It's exactly the kind of card this deck wants.
Sram, Senior Edificer	Never run out of cards in White again.
Loxodon Warhammer	Any equipment will work here, but Warhammer is my favourite.
Skullclamp	Oketra basically reads "4W: Draw two cards."
Cathar's Crusade	Pumps the team at will thanks to Oketra's ability.
Hour of Reckoning	Kill every creature but tokens and Oketra.
Odric, Master Tactician	Since you'll have more than three creatures, this is perfect.

All in all she isn't breaking new ground as a white commander but gives some great new angles to attack from compared to her close cousin Kemba, and makes a truly unique choice for a voltron style deck.

God of Bin Chickens

Speaking of unique, lets take a look at the Kefnet the Mindful. Don't let his likeness to the common Trash Turkey fool you. Even though he shares a little too much text with Soramaro, First to Dream, he's much harder to remove, and much more aggressively costed. But like Soramaro, he lends himself to a very specific strategy. 

The two things to take away from the card are the the lines "Kefnet the Mindful can't attack or block unless you have seven or more cards in hand," and "Draw a card, then you may return a land you control to it's owner's hand." 

The big take away is that you want a stacked hand, but if it's full of lands thanks to Kefnet, how can you make use of them?

Luckily for us, the Kamigawa block has us covered. Blue, and in particular the Moonfolk tribe had a lot of "lands matter" strategies. While we certainly don't have the amount of synergy with lands like green and red do, blue gets a lot of off-the-beaten-path choices.

If you're looking to build a blue deck to make the most of our lord and saviour Tip Chook, consider the following cards that make the humble Ibis a valued part of your team.

Trade Routes	This fills up your hand and cycles lands you don't need away.
Uyo, Silent Prophet	There's plenty of other good Moonfolk, this one is just an example.
Roil Elemental	If it lives long enough, this guy will take over the game.
Flooded Shoreline	Control the board AND gets that hand filled up with lands.
Patron of the Moon	Good with Moonfolk and very powerful ramp in blue.
Sunder	You can easily play this if you can deal with the retaliation from the other players at the table.

Is Kefnet a powerful commander to build around? It's certainly unique and offers an interesting strategy to play with, but in the end it's a much easier to cast Soramaro. If you like playing with lands in all the wrong colours though, I can't recommend Kefnet enough, and I'm all about the silly plays.

God of Aristocrats

After that little stint with a less than conventional commander, Bontu the Glorified brings us back to basics. Black is a colour all about creatures dying, and Bontu is MADE for this.

As with most of the gods, the spicy bit is the last ability.

"1B, Sacrifice another creature: Scry 1. Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life."

I am a man with a very long history with sacrifice outlets. And even though Bontu isn't game breaking on his own, the big thing is that he's a sacrifice outlet in the command zone. That's indestructible. And is a crocodile. I mean the last point isn't relevant, but it's still a cool point.

He's not meant to lead the deck, and a commander deck with Bontu at the helm is not meant to be built around him. He's a working part of the deck, and he enables some very powerful plays with some already good black cards, and even some lesser thought about ones. Let's get into some of those choices.

Corpse Dance	Sacrifice the reanimated creature to get around the exile clause.
Grave Pact	I don't even need to explain why this card and it's ilk goes in the deck.
Blood Artist	Along with Zulaport Cutthroat you can easily bleed the table.
Black Market	Black combos are very mana heavy, and a little help is appreciated.
Grim Haruspex	Even though the scry happens before the draw, it's still incredibly good.
Pawn of Ulamog	Get double duty from all your creatures, and watch your opponents cry.

But is Bontu really worth it in a deck? I'd personally love to see him at the helm of a commander deck but he faces some very stiff competition from Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim and to a lesser extent, Ghost Council of Orzhova, and they grant an extra colour which is known to provide very nice fodder for sacrificing. But whatever, neither of them are crocodiles. Bontu - 1, everything else - 0.

God of Madness

Wizards seem to have a very long standing love/hate relationship with red cards, especially those of the Mythic rarity. Occasionally you'll get format defining staples, but, more often then not, you'll get pure, unadulterated garbage. Given we were bound to get a red mythic God early in the set, I was very concerned, since the God will be a legal commander. So how does Hazoret stack up?

We can't decide on that until we break her down, but she has a few things going for her. The 5/4 hasty indestructible body goes at good rate mana-wise, but that's not what we're here for.

One ability wants us to have a very small hand, and the other ability gives us a way to discard cards for profit. I hope you like discarding cards.

Now, before you say it; yes, there are other cards that could pilot a deck like this better, including but not limited to Malfegor and another legendary creature card from Amonkhet that I'll be breaking down soon. This isn't an article for them though, we're playing mono-red madness, son! Now let's find some cards that make the jackal-deity "tick".

Ignorant Bliss	Surprise your friends and family with a 5/4, any time!
Sneak Attack	Empty your hand and keep the pressure on your opponent.
Seismic Assault	Sneak Attack for land cards.
Ghirapur Orrery	Drawing four cards a turn is too good.
Avaricious Dragon	See above. Worse for drawing but empties your hand easily.
Feldon of the Third Path	You wont find reanimation anywhere else in red.

All the cards above you can play in any old madness deck, preferably with black, but I would argue that mono-colour gives you some big ramp options you can't explore with another colour. Combine Snow Covered Mountains, Scrying Sheets, Extraplanar Lens and even Mouth of Ronom for some extreme mana. 

All in all, it's rare to have a on-demand discard outlet in this style of deck, which is almost reason enough to put her at the head of your deck.

God of dumb things and Snakes

And now we make it to the final God of Amonkhet, Rhonas the Indomitable. Where as all the other gods have generally unique abilities and neat interactions, Rhonas is as stereotypically green as they come.

He's a big dumb creature that cares about big dumb creatures, but also makes you big dumb creatures even bigger and dumber.

But, at the very least, there is a theme here. Unless you've been living in a mountain range for the past decade, you should know that Wizards like to print green cards that care about creatures with power greater than or equal to X. It's not the most interesting theme, but there is enough synergy in green to really make the most of playing as many big creatures as possible.

This deck is going to take a lot of inspiration from Mayael the Anima, but mono-green, since our deck needs to be as straightforward and stompy as possible. The list below, therefore, is as linear as you can get in the format. You have been warned.

Sacellum Godspeaker	Make mana from big dumb creatures, for big dumb creatures.
Spearbreaker Behemoth	They're big, but now your opponent can't get rid of them.
Archetype of Endurance	And now they can't even target them.
Paeleoloth	But if they do get rid of them, you'll just get them back again.
Elemental Bond	See also: Drumhunter, Garruk's Packleader
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds	Sacellum Godspeaker and Garruk's Packleader rolled into one.

Also a big shout out to Illusionist's Bracers. +4/+0 and trample for three mana is exceedingly good. 

For the most part, I'm happy to see some new Gods in Commander. Even though a lot of them can be outdone by other non-God legendary creatures, they provide just enough to distinguish themselves from their counterparts in Theros. And besides, they're still great additions to the 99 in a lot of decks, even if you can't justify giving them the responsibility of leading your deck.

What do you think of them? Love them? Hate them? Think I missed something? Sound off in the comments below!

I'll be back with another article soon dealing with the rest of the commanders in Amonkhet, and boy are some of them hit and miss.

Until next time, 
May his return come quickly, and may we be found worthy.

Some Amonkhet cards that I'm a little fond of

Some Amonkhet cards that I'm a little fond of

by Simon Driel

Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy the sacrifice of creatures for fun and/or profit (refer previous article where I discuss a Commander deck that does a bit of this) and cards that affect each player, or preferably, each opponent (yep, wrote about a deck that does a LOT of that) so I'm quite pleased that Amonkhet has a couple of new toys for me to play with in my Olivia Voldaren Commander deck:

I'm a fan of most of the "whenever you cycle or discard a card" effects from this block, but Faith of the Devoted seems to be the most EDH-playable to me. Picture it in play when a Wheel of Fate comes off suspend!

The one that makes drakes is pretty good but they can only hit one player at a time.

Faith of the Devoted is strong enough to include cycling lands, which were removed earlier, back into the deck. I look forward to including the new dual type one.

Heart-Piercer Manticore reminds me a little of Flayer of the Hatebound; it loses the ability to one-shot kill with two in the graveyard (Patriarch's Bidding naming the Devil, Rise of the Dark Realms, or a similar effect is 28 damage) in exchange for actually being a good card; it's almost good enough on vanilla stats alone, the ability is a "may" ability, the card is even potentially playable in Standard with an energy engine, Fling and Electrostatic Pummeler - which may see a new lease of life shortly - but I plan to play it with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Lashwrithe to get the maximum damage out of every "crunch & fling" I can set off with the thing!

Mmmmmm....value...

A sorely needed reprint for Modern, being an uncommon in the $12-15 range, I expect a resurgence of hate bears decks around the tables in the coming months. Between this and Harsh Mentor, fetch lands are looking like a bit more of a liability, and the Commander tables might even see a reduction in the amount of tutors played; although that's probably not very likely, and I'm certainly guilty myself; this deck has fifteen search spells and effects plus four fetch lands, and is disgustingly consistent for a Commander deck.

One of our "tempting offers" in our EDH league last week was to receive an emblem with "whenever you search your library, you lose 5 life" and while I may have struggled with that, I've seen plenty of decks that don't worry about searching at all and just play what comes off the top. Embrace the chaos, or be restricted to searching just the top four cards of your library!

Another card designed for limited play and the environment's interaction with the Embalm mechanic, Anointer Priest and Anointed Procession, I see these cards and think about their potential for massive life drain in a Commander deck with older cards like Army of the Damned, Necromancer's Covenant, Endless Ranks of the Dead, Tombstone Stairwell (utterly disgusting) plus Grave Titan, Ghoulcaller Gisa and underused Standard rares Cryptbreaker, Diregraf Colossus, From Under the Floorboards and Relentless Dead. Add the reusability of Unholy Grotto, Nim Deathmantle and Lord of the Undead, infinite combo potential with Gravecrawler and Carnival of Souls, and please just excuse me for a few minutes while I go and brew something up for later...

It's yet another card that has my two favourite phrases on it, "whenever" and "each opponent" so of course this one has grabbed me and swung me around in a dance!

...

Come on, Wizards of the Coast.

"Discard a card" isn't a drawback - it's a bonus.

Surely you realise this by now, right?

*Golgari Grave-Troll is unbanned!

...

*Prized Amalgam

*Cathartic Reunion

*Haunted Dead

*Smuggler's Copter (RIP)

...

...

*Golgari Grave-Troll is banned again!

Well, maybe you don't realise this. This would be a good card even if it were it printed as a sorcery; as an instant, it's even better. It may even help enable reanimator strategies in Standard, or give modern dredge decks another kick in the pants - although Faithless Looting and Cathartic Reunion are likely too good to want to change colours.

Other cards have me excited as well, and I have no doubt the Standard format is due for a shake-up, in particular, creatures with four or less toughness will have to pass the Glorybringer test to see any serious play, and there's plenty of new artifact hate that can be cycled away cheap if the time isn't right - we'll be seeing some of that played in the main decks rather than the sideboard as a result of that flexibility.

Very soon it will be time to get your hands on some of these and other exciting cards! If you haven't booked in for one of our pre-release events, there's only a couple of days to go, and limited spaces remaining (we only get 36 packs; new store syndrome) so get in touch now to secure your place!