The Cutting Room Floor: Return of the Living Dead: Part I

[Michael Keller]

New article (http://jupitergames.info/articles/) is up!

Check it out!

[Backseat_Critic]

I too am a fan of brewing and recursion. This was a good read. Keep up the good work!

I spent a lot of time on a RUG lands recursion deck a couple of years ago. It featured maze of ith, wasteland, crucible, punishing fire, jace, exploration, and red sweepers. You inspired me to give it another look.

[Michael Keller]

I too am a fan of brewing and recursion. This was a good read. Keep up the good work!

I spent a lot of time on a RUG lands recursion deck a couple of years ago. It featured maze of ith, wasteland, crucible, punishing fire, jace, exploration, and red sweepers. You inspired me to give it another look.

Glad you liked it!

The fundamental idea would obviously be to lock an opponent out of the game using Contamination but it also works as a solid aggro deck. The synergy with Crucible/Mutavault/Contamination is really nice, in addition to Mutavault playing the role of a zombie - enabling Gravecrawler recursion. These synergistic qualities have been weaved throughout the deck and so far it's working nicely.

[Lemnear]

Needs moar Diabolic Intent and a Crazy sac outlet

[Michael Keller]

Needs moar Diabolic Intent and a Crazy sac outlet

I'm wondering if maybe two or three Diabolic Intent would be good in here. It seems like it has some application and synergy with all of the recurring dudes. I'll definitely have to try that one out.

[Oiolosse]

Attrition has always been a favorite of mine. Great with Gravecrawlers.

[Fizzeler]

Smallpox seems great in this deck

I agree with Attrition great synergy with Bloodghast and Gravecrawlers, Grave Pact also works well with Contamination

I have always loved Pox and Mono-Black Control Strategies this was a great read

Could this be the place for a card like Killing Wave? for a measly XB you can wipe their entire board while all your threats recur or take a huge chunk out of their life total

[Michael Keller]

Smallpox seems great in this deck

I agree with Attrition great synergy with Bloodghast and Gravecrawlers, Grave Pact also works well with Contamination

I have always loved Pox and Mono-Black Control Strategies this was a great read

Could this be the place for a card like Killing Wave? for a measly XB you can wipe their entire board while all your threats recur or take a huge chunk out of their life total

Possibly. Killing Wave seems like it would be kind of nasty in a variant like this. The deck is predominantly trying to exploit the power of Contamination, without being dependent on the card itself. Contamination is more like an "Oops, I win" card.

Another equipment I was considering was Mask of Memory. Again, very synergistic with the rest of the deck and filters your hand. Seems like it would also be a nice fit here.

I was also seriously considering Reassembling Skeleton, although it might be a bit narrow. What do you guys think?

[Greenpoe]

Best article I've ever read in a long time. This is a really fantastic idea, its kind of like "Monoblack Zombardment". Here's some other cards which could be decent: Grisly Salvage (grabs creatures/Mutavaults/Wasteland), Loleth Troll (zombie for Gravecrawler) & Life from the Loam (replacing Crucible, dredges away useful stuff and recurs lands to hand), Tidehollow Sculler (zombie) & Enlightened Tutor (fetches Sculler to recur Gravecrawlers, Contamination or Bitterblossom), Entomb, Rotting Rats (recurs itself and is a zombie), Fleshbag Marauder, Haakon, Umewaza's Jitte (lifegain/useful with all the small guys), and Dark Ritual. With all the card advantage and potency of the lock pieces, I'd think that the tempo boost from Ritual could really help (help speed up the lock anyway).

[Julian23]

Just a random thought, but I see potential in Chrome Mox / Mox Diamond.

[Michael Keller]

Just a random thought, but I see potential in Chrome Mox / Mox Diamond.

Chrome Mox over Mox Diamond with Crucible in the deck, Julian? A mix, perhaps?

[Hanni]

Dark Ritual is another option. It doesn't provide residual mana ramp, but it can lead to some extremely fast starts.