Zombie Swarm

[Justin]

This is my take on Zombie tribal. This decks has gotten a lot better since Innistrad block. Diergraf Ghoul and Gravecrawler are two new 2-powered one-drops. If you combine them with Sarcomancy and Carnophage, the deck now has 16 such cards and has a better chance to power them out in mutiples thanks to Dark Ritual. Gravecrawler really shines in this deck. It has a sick interaction with Carrion Feeder and it just keeps coming back. The deck wins by swarming the opponent with a lot of undercosted zombies in a short period of time. There are four "lords" that provide additional size, deathtouch, and recursion. Withered Wretch helps against graveyard strategies. The deck also carries some staple mono-black discard and removal.

I don't think that Aether Vial is great in this deck. The deck is ultra-heavy on one-drops, and doesn't offer much beyond that. You won't reliably have a two-drop or three-drop to vial in. Also, perhaps the lord count and/or removal spells could go a little higher. However, I'm pretty sure that I want the 16 2-power, 1cc zombies with dark rits in the deck. This is what makes the deck special.

The following is a budget version of Zombies Swarm.

// Lands
15 [M10] Swamp
4 [ON] Unholy Grotto

// Creatures
4 [FNM] Carnophage
4 [ISD] Diregraf Ghoul
2 [10E] Lord of the Undead
2 [ALA] Death Baron
4 [DKA] Gravecrawler
3 [LE] Withered Wretch
3 [SC] Carrion Feeder

// Spells
4 [TE] Sarcomancy
4 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
4 [AT] Hymn to Tourach
3 [NPH] Dismember
4 [TE] Dark Ritual

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 4 [MBS] Phyrexian Crusader
SB: 4 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 4 [GP] Leyline of the Void

Finally, I've got some recommendation on improving the deck if you have more money.

First, I would replace Unholy Grotto with Wasteland if you have them. I would not run both cards, because this deck relies so heavily on black mana (and very little colorless mana). I would not run more than four or five colorless lands, because you won't be able to cast your spells as reliably.

Second, I would add Umezawa's Jitte to the deck. I think that two is the right number. A swarm deck, such as this will do well with some cheap, powerful equipment, and Jitte is ideal. If you cannot afford Jittes right now, you could look into some of the Swords of X and Y.

Third, the Inquisition of Kozilek slot could easily be Thoughtseize if you have it. I'm not sure whether Thoughtseize, Inquision, or Duress is best. It's possible that this discard slot could be cut in favor of more zombies or equipment, however, I believe that quality one-mana discard is one of the most compelling reasons to play black.

[Cthuloo]

Since Gravecrawler was recently spoiled, I began to think about a similar deck. Zombies are my pet tribe, and with the new printing they have at their disposal an impressive quantity of aggressive one drops.

The list is very straightforward, as it should be. The biggest problem is that the 2cc zombies suck, Withered Wretch is not totally bad, but it's not aggressive enough to be on par with the rest of the deck. So, instead of playing a sub-par threat on turn two, I considered the idea of playing more disruption instead, adding Sinkhole to Hymn to Tourach. I'm not really sure of the outcome, but it deserves to be tested, IMO.
Another possibility is playing Unmask instead of IoK, with the idea in mind that you don't want to spend your first turn without dropping a threat. Cabal therapy could also be an interesting choice if you want to grind out some extra adavtage from the gravecrawlers in some attrition games.

[Justin]

I've had a Zombie tribal deck that predates the Legacy format. In the early years of Legacy (2004-06) there was a local store that ran Legacy tribal wars events. I played Zombies and won with them. I was a budget player back then. I still like to build budget decks today, but I gave up on Zombies a few years back. The printing of Gravecrawler inspired me to build it again. I don't imagine that this deck would ever win a large tourney, but it might be a good option for a budget player. It would also be fun in casual tribal wars events.

On the lack of 2cc zombies, I agree that this is frustrating. There aren't a lot of good options. I used to play Wretched Anurid and Blind Creeper. In today's environment, I don't think that 3/3s for 2cc cut it anymore. Besides Withered Wretch, possibily the best two drop is Stromgald Crusader. It provides pro-white, pump, and evasion, but it is probably too mana intensive. Well, so far Innistrad block has been good for zombies. Perhaps the third set will give us a legit 2cc zombie that is Legacy playable.

Sinkhole is not a bad idea if one wants to increase the 2cc spells and provide a smoother mana curve. On the other hand, I don't think it's horrible that this deck relies so heavily on 1cc spells. Decks such as Burn, as well as Devler and Threshold varients have recently been doing very well in Legacy.

On discard options, I don't like Unmask or Cabal Therapy for this deck. I don't like Unmask because you have to pitch a card to it. This deck is sort of an "all-in" deck and doesn't have anything in the way of card draw (too bad that Dark Confidant is not a zombie). Cabal Therapy does combo really well with Gravecrawler, however, the deck would need some more cards that have synergy with it before I would consider using it.

[Roman Candle]

As far as 2cc Zombies go, I think Shepherd of Rot is at least worth a look. Gravecrawler allows you to maintain a density of Zombies, and the card is pretty high impact and good if the board is stalled by Goyf.

[tsabo_tavoc]

If the deck is not restricted by budget, the 2cc slots are Dark Confidants. It is the card drawing removals, and does not rely on another card to be good.

Also, Snuff Out > Dismember.

Edit: This is my take on the deck

14 Swamp
4 Wasteland

4 Gravecrawler
4 Carnophage
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Dark Confidant
3 Death Baron

4 Sarcomancy
4 Dark Ritual
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Cover of Darkness
2 Umezawa's Jitte

[rufus]

It seems like the concept here is to drop threats on turn 1, and then race and disrupt.
It seems like a plausible direction to take would be a white splash for cards like:

Silence
Orim's Chant
Abeyance
Gerrard's Verdict
Tidehollow Sculler
Vindicate

That dovetail nicely with the zombie and disruption concept.

That said, I think bob is a superb fit since the deck looks like it has reach issues.

I wonder whether it makes sense to throw in Lotus Petals as a supplement to Dark Ritual for strong turn 1 plays.

[Justin]

Yeah, Dark Confidant seems really good, even if it's not a zombie. It's certainly earned its place as a black "staple" in Legacy. Sadly, Confidant is no longer a budget player's card.

Tidehollow Sculler is clearly the best 2cc zombie, and it sees play in Deadguy Ale. I would like to splash white, but I have some serious reservations about doing so. Any splash would have to be very light. I don't think this deck should be running basic Plains. This deck wants to keep its non-black land count low. As I said before, it relies heavily on spells that cost B and doesn't use a lot of colorless mana. Also, Dark Ritual has negative synergy with non-black spells. If you put in too many white (or other colored spells), you could find yourself with starting hands that include a dark rit, but not enough mono-black spells in hand to get full use out of it. Although, as you note, Lotus Petal could help with that.

[Agent J]

I'm trying a really aggressive version without disruption. Just synergy... It's more or less an all-in approach that reminds me of old school Affinity ;)

// Lands
2 Unholy Grotto
20 Swamp

// Creatures
2 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Lord of the Undead
4 Gempalm Polluter
4 Shepherd of Rot
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Gravecrawler
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Carnophage

// Spells
4 Dark Ritual
4 Sarcomancy

Sheperd is really sick against non-aggro decks and Gravecrawler + Carrion Feeder is obviously good.

I haven't tested a whole lot but the deck performs at least okay. As usual Mono-Black hates equipment and stuff like Engineered Explosives is pretty annoying, too. But at least it makes soooooo much fun to play this. :)

[Justin]

Here's an update on the deck:

// Lands
4 [TE] Wasteland
15 [M10] Swamp

// Creatures
4 [FNM] Carnophage
4 [ISD] Diregraf Ghoul
4 [ALA] Death Baron
4 [DKA] Gravecrawler
4 [LE] Withered Wretch
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant

// Spells
4 [TE] Sarcomancy
4 [NPH] Dismember
4 [TE] Dark Ritual
2 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
3 [MM] Snuff Out

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 4 [MBS] Phyrexian Crusader
SB: 4 [GP] Leyline of the Void
SB: 4 [CS] Stromgald Crusader

Even though they are mono-black staples, I decided to cut Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach. I found that the deck needs more removal and card draw, so I've added Snuff Out and Dark Confidant in their spots. This will weaken the combo matchup, but I'm not too concerned. As a casual, tribal deck, it doesn't need to worry about combo anyway. As a budget deck, it can just punt on that matchup and work to improve against other decks.

With the new additions, the deck is becoming more of a "suicide" deck. I may need to cut Snuff Out for a less painful but more expensive removal spell or possibly fit in more life gain.

[Zupponn]

Personally, I would put Stromgald Crusader in the main and Withered Wretch in the sideboard for a more aggro approach, but the Wretch does have advantages vs almost any deck, so it probably works fine in the main too. Also, have you looked into Bad Moon?

[Justin]

I don't like Bad Moon because it doesn't have legs. If I wanted to add more cards to pump my guys, I would go with Lord of the Undead. It's worth paying one more mana for a lord that can beat down and recur dead zombies. One card that I would like to fit in this deck is Carrion Feeder. As another one drop, it speeds up the deck (perhaps allowing me to cut another land), and it has a sick synergy with Gravecrawler. The problem is that it is weak in the early game at only a 1/1. I've also been wondering whether two or three is the correct number of Jittes for this deck.

[lyracian]

Since you posted a link in the R2R spoilers I glanced at your deck.

Have you looked at Nameless Inversion? You can bring it back with Lord of the Undead and it is an extra turn two play.

[Justin]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I haven't looked at Nameless Inversion, because I like the idea of playing cheap creature removal in this deck. I prefer Dismember and Snuff Out. This deck is a fast beatdown deck and doesn't do well in long-grindy matches. It does better if it is using mana to cast zombies and then turn them sideways.

I'm actually not playing Lord of the Undead. I prefer Death Baron, because the deathtouch ability is important for removing large blockers, such as Goyf, Knight of the Reliquary, etc. The Zombies in this deck usually don't get too much bigger than 3/3s. I really don't want to run more than four lords, either. I've found that drawing one is usually enough.

[lyracian]

LotU was in your original decklist I had not seen you had cut him in the update. The deathtouch is a really nice way of avoiding needing lots of lords in play to be able to win combat, I could defiantly do with more of them for my casual Zombie deck.

Dark Confident is another great card but it does feel wrong to have him in a Zombie deck. :cool:

[EdsonDettoni]

Hi,

I was looking your list. The I thought in one of my favorite card: Nether Void. And I wander if you could tell me if you think a list like this could work:


8 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Cavern of souls
1 Unholy Grotto
4 Wasteland
3 Mutavault

4 Dark Ritual

4 Aether Vial
4 Nether Void
1 Ghoulcaller's Chant

2 Nameless Inversion

2 Fleshbag Marauder

4 Carnophage
3 Diregraf Ghoul

4 Gravecrawler
3 Carrion Feeder

4 Death Baron
2 Lord of the Undead


Just a quick idea.