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Thread: Combo Zombies!

  1. #1

    Combo Zombies!

    Hi guys, this deck isn't Tier 1 but I did play 14 games in a row against a friend of mine's Sharkstill deck. We were locked at a dead tie and went 7 and 7. It's hella fun to play, has a ton of synergies and win cons, and it's not Zombardment.

    It's essentially mono black, sadly had to splash white for Wayward Servant because Zulaport Cutthroat is not a zombie and the deck needs more zombies to activate Gravecrawler and Cryptbreaker abilities.

    There are multiple routes to victory such as going infinite life and damage with Wayward Servant, infinite Zombies with Bridge from Below, lock down with Contamination (until you can get your combo up), beat down aggro style with Carrion Feeder, and a sweet draw engine via Undead Auger and/or Crypt Breaker.

    There are multiple combos with Crypt Breaker btw, as you can create zombies with dead cards in hand, draw cards and/or pitch a drawn Bridge from Below etc..

    Entomb counts as Gravecrawler numbers 5, 6, 7, 8 and if you already have a Gravecrawler it fetches Bridge from Below.

    Originally I was running Thoughtsieze and Cabal Therapy etc.. but there was no room and the combos weren't coming together. So that's when I cut them for more consistency and more threats.

    Sideboard has not been built yet. I'm guessing this deck dies hard to grave hate so I'm considering a transformational sideboard with zombie lords that isn't totally dependent on the sb.

    Here's the deck! Let me know what you think. Constructive criticism welcome. Please no insults / flames etc... Those are not helpful. Snobs back off.

    COMBO ZOMBIES: 60 cards
    EDIT: List updated. -3 Viscera Seer +1 Blasting Station +2 Undead Augur

    MEAT: 4
    4x Gravecrawler

    OUTLETS: 8
    4x Carrion Feeder
    2x Phyrexian Altar
    2x Blasting Station

    TRIGGERS: 12
    4x Wayward Servant
    3x Carnival of Souls
    4x Undead Augur
    1x Bridge from Below

    UTILITY: 4
    4x Cryptbreaker

    SEARCH: 5
    4x Entomb
    1x Diabolic Intent

    LOCKDOWN: 2
    2x Contamination

    RAMP: 11
    4x Dark Ritual
    3x Culling the Weak
    4x Lotus Petal

    LAND: 14
    4x Scrubland
    4x Marsh Flats
    3x Bloodstained Mire
    2x Swamp
    1x Phyrexian Tower
    Last edited by Laser Brains; 10-06-2020 at 09:45 PM.
    "WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca

  2. #2
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    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Unholy Grotto, Cavern, Haakon, Coffin Puppets + Dunes of the Dead (bonus points for Wretched Camel), Custodi Lich, Diregraf Colossus, Jhessian Zombie-types, Sultai Emissary, UB stuff (Scarab God, Amalgam), Vengeful Pharaoh, Undead Gladiator.

    ^all of these types of things you could do are going to be worse than Stitcher’s Supplier/Gaak, Dredge, and Grisel, but they’re likely to result in a deck with a more competitive edge than clunky sac outlets.

    What deck was your opponent on: UW/UWx? Landstill, Standstill, ReplenishStill, or Dreadstill? (these are all “SharkStill” - a highly imprecise deck name, which doesn’t even tell us if we’re dealing with Control, Combo, or Combo-Control)

  3. #3

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Thanks Fox! Yeah, I tested a lot of those cards. The deck is mana hungry so a lot of the higher cc dudes don’t really fit. The Sharkstill deck my friend was playing ran the Standstills and and Shark Typhoon of course, but also Ponder / Brainstorm package with Replenish and a Stoneforge Mystic suite with the usual 10 free counter spells.
    "WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca

  4. #4

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Oh, also he runs Brazen Borrower and Snapcaster.
    "WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca

  5. #5

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    This probably won't help much but I did something similar not too long ago. I ran gravecrawler, phyrexian altar and diregraf colossus as my engine then went with gempalm polluter for the kill if I couldn't get in with beats. Volraths stronghold pairs nicely too if you have to cycle your polluter then re draw it. I think i had one of the BW zombies too for etb/dies triggers as well but I can't remember. Def mana hungry but jank level fun!

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  6. #6

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Quote Originally Posted by ronco View Post
    This probably won't help much but I did something similar not too long ago. I ran gravecrawler, phyrexian altar and diregraf colossus as my engine then went with gempalm polluter for the kill if I couldn't get in with beats. Volraths stronghold pairs nicely too if you have to cycle your polluter then re draw it. I think i had one of the BW zombies too for etb/dies triggers as well but I can't remember. Def mana hungry but jank level fun!

    Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk
    Thanks, yeah Polluter seems fun. It’s just a little janky little brew I made that can steal some games for sure. Crazy fun to play with all the different routes to victory. I’m sure it gets ripped to shreds against grave hate and/or Chalice. I’ll do some more testing and maybe check out Polluter.
    "WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca

  7. #7

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    IMO you are going to be slower and less powerful than any other graveyard deck, so you should be able to answer: what do you do better than other graveyard decks?

    In my opinion the best way to take the deck would be to make it better at playing through hate & more disruptive. Tidehollow Sculler is an on tribe TKS, and you can do silly things by saccing it in response. Black cat is at least technically a 2 for 1 as well. Cabal Therapy is an additional sac outlet that also disrupts. Relentless dead is a decent beater that can recur your discard.

  8. #8

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Hi, guys. I made some slight tweaks to the deck and it is now definitely better (not that it was doing poorly). I'll talk about those in a minute.

    First though I wanted to mention that I just played 5 games straight against Esper Vial and unbelievably went 5-0. I thought the first couple games were just flukes because there is no way this scrubby brew just beat down on Esper Vial, but it did. The threat package and cards draw were too overwhelming. Not to mention I had explosive hands. Two of the games he put Meddling Mage on Gravecrawler but I took them out with Blasting Station. FYI, just to be clear, we haven't been testing with sideboards and yes we are playing paper Magic.

    I played one game against Hogaak and died turn two. I'll be revisiting that match up next week when I get to play again. That match up doesn't appear to be favorable.

    Also, I appreciate the recommendations on cards like Sculler, Black Cat, Unholy Grotto, Coffin Puppets etc.. but there really isn't any room. From what I can tell from my research the creatures that are already in the deck really are the best creatures. All of the cards synergize and work beautifully together. Disruption has been replaced with a higher threat package and redundancy.

    Here are the changes. I found Viscera Seer to be a terrible sac outlet and noticed that don't need as many "repeatable" sac outlets as I do triggers, so I axed them and bumped Undead Augur up to 4 and added a second Blasting Station (which has been amazing!). Augur has been an awesome engine btw! I've had a few games where I drew up to 7-8 cards in one turn.

    Every game ends differently. Many times I just beat down with creatures. In those games I don't go infinite but rather out draw them with Augur and/or use Gravecrawler tricks with Bridge and just overwhelm them with zombies.

    Contamination has been a winner. All but one time that I successfully cast Contamination with Gravecrawler as fuel have I lost.

    About half of the time I win by comboing out with infinite damage off of Wayward Servant or Blasting Station.

    I haven't played against Chalice yet but I'm not expecting it to be a good match up.

    I updated the original list above if you want to see it.

    Here's a couple of interesting opening hands I've had.

    Turn one: Swamp + Ritual + Ritual + Gravecrawler + a 1 drop Zombie + Contamination

    Turn one: Swamp + Ritual + Carnival of Souls + Gravecrawler + (free)Carrion Feeder + (free)Cryptbreaker + (free)Entomb (for Bridge of course) [Carnival of Souls is sweet and allows free one drops, infinite combos and lots of free draw with Augur]

    Btw, you can go infinite a few ways, plus other synergies:

    Carnival of Souls + Wayward Servant + Gravecrawler + Sac Outlet = Infinite damage

    Phyrexian Altar + Bridge from Below (in the yard) + Gravecrawler = Infinite Zombies

    Phyrexian Altar + Wayward Servant + Gravecrawler = Infinite life and damage

    Carnival of Souls + Undead Augur + Bridge from Below + Gravecrawler = Draw as many cards as you need while getting a zombie for each at the cost of 2 life

    2-4 Wayward Servants + Sac Outlet + Gravecrawler = Lots of life / Lots of damage

    Blasting Station + Gravecrawler + a Zombie + Carnival of Souls = A machine gun on opponents weenies

    Blasting Station + Gravecrawler + a Zombie + Bridge = A machine gun that nets you lots of 2/2's (nicely paired with Culling the Weak and Dark Ritual if you don't have Carnival or Altar for free mana)

    Carnival of Souls + Undead Augur + Gravecrawler + Sac Outlet = Draw as many cards as I want as long as I don't kill myself with Augur (hopefully draw into Lotus Petals, Rituals etc.. then into combo or lock pieces

    EDIT: Spelling, Grammar + added some
    Last edited by Laser Brains; 10-07-2020 at 01:38 AM.
    "WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca

  9. #9

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Quote Originally Posted by Laser Brains View Post
    Contamination has been a winner. All but one time that I successfully cast Contamination with Gravecrawler as fuel have I lost.
    You mean all but one you have won?

    Great to hear your deck is doing hogaak-esque things.

    What is your plan for stompy decks and faster gy or combo decks?

  10. #10

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Quote Originally Posted by Reeplcheep View Post
    You mean all but one you have won?

    Great to hear your deck is doing hogaak-esque things.

    What is your plan for stompy decks and faster gy or combo decks?
    Thank you Reeple! I'm not sure. We do have access to white so I'm thinking some sort of Disenchant, Vindicate, Seal of Cleansing, Oblivion Ring something of that sort. Or, I was considering Gate to Phyrexia

    Also, I have been considering 1 slot towards a lone Soul Warden.

    EDIT: Soul Warden only costs 1 and lets me draw the whole deck (without dying) with Augur, lets me go infinite life with Phyrexian Altar and infinite mana (without dying) with Carnival of Souls. Plus is a great triggered life gaining ability in those grindy matches when you don't have infinite combo pieces together.
    Last edited by Laser Brains; 10-07-2020 at 12:40 AM.
    "WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca

  11. #11

    Re: Combo Zombies!

    Quote Originally Posted by Reeplcheep View Post
    You mean all but one you have won?
    I mean that every time I successfully cast Contamination I won the game except once. This was a major threat against Sharkstill and Esper Vial. It might not be quite the threat against other decks, however it's been really nice so far.
    "WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca

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