MaximumC
07-19-2016, 11:15 PM
http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/sf/sf151_zombie.jpg
Since they printed Prized Amalgam, I've been looking for a good way to make it sing. The fastest way to get him out (barring some kind of competitive Dredge nonsense!) seems to to pair him with his Best Friend Forever, the Unearth Mechanic. So, I set about to brew a deck that seeks to put lots of cards in the yard and, from there, get lots of cards onto the battlefield. In a fair way.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=410014&type=card+http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=386309&type=card
Geralf would probably feel right at home on Grixis... until someone helped themselves to his "vis."
So, to start with, the core of the deck is going to be Amalgam and Dregscape Zombie. If you can dump these in the yard, you're putting 5 power into play for B, which seems awesome. The next question is, "What kind of discard outlet do I want?" This question answers itself as you ask it, and that answer is Zombie Infestation[/b]. For two mana, both parts of your Zombie dash are dumped into the yard AND you get another Zombie out of it. Great! Of course, given that we want discard to be central to the deck, it is probably not wise to rely on a single four-of to get the engine going. Additionally, it would be great if we could get our 5 power out on turn 2 instead of 3. Again, our search ends almost immediately because Wizards printed the best 1 drop discard outlet a long time ago: [cards]Putrid Imp.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=270454&type=card http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=383057&type=card
The best discard outlets for what we want to do - this deck builds itself!
Alright, so if our gameplan is to dump cards into our yard to replay Amalgam, we need things that synergize with that. We always want to have a creature in our yard that lets us get Amalgam back repeatedly to avoid losing to something dumb like Wrath of God. We also want more ways to get incidental discard for profit. here, I turn to Rotting Rats, which his your opponent and is awesome if you've pushed yourself to hellbent already.
I also like Stitchwing Skaab. I know, I know, but hear me out. It's an evasive Zombie, which (other than Putrid Imp) is not common. It can be played from the yard to rebuy Amalgam. It's also another way to get your cards into the yard in the first place; turn 1 Imp pitching whatever into turn 2 3/1 flyer with more Unearth next turn is a legitimate threat (in a word of casual decks).
All of this seems like a fine way to get the aggro ball rolling quickly and aggressively, but once our opponent casts a Craw Wurm, what do we do with our little Zombies? We need a top end. Luckily, we have a few really great Zombies from recent sets that both can be a massive top end as a result of all the graveyard stupidity we're doing: Diegraf Colossus and Gurmag Angler. They even come down in the right order: Colossus curves off of your initial yard dump, giving you a reason to still fill it even if you don't have an Amalgam, and then Angler comes down a little bit later to keep the fat flowing.
So, we have a low end that tries to accelerate out of the yard, some recursion to keep the pressure on, and a decent top end to overcome barriers. Great! The last few slots should address a few weaknesses left: we need some removal and some card advantage to make up for the fact we're dumping our hand so fast. Fleshbag Marauder gives us some removal, Graveborn Muse can potentially draw a ton of cards to reload, and Thought Scour keeps the yard flowing while digging deeper.
Finally, the lands. Since we have Angler, I think we're better off running some fetchlands. It's casual, so we're talking Mirage Fetchlands, maybe some Terramorphic Expanses. Finally, anytime I'm playing with Fleshbag, I want to also have Unholy Grotto to allow recursion. Put it all together...?
Creatures
4 Dregscape Zombie
2 Rotting Rats
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Stitchwing Skaab
4 Gurmag Angler
Discard Outlets
4 Putrid Imp
4 Zombie Infestation
Removal
2 Fleshbag Marauder
Draw
2 Thoughtscour
2 Graveborn Muse
Lands
4 Bad River
2 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Unholy Grotto
5 Island
7 Swamp
Since they printed Prized Amalgam, I've been looking for a good way to make it sing. The fastest way to get him out (barring some kind of competitive Dredge nonsense!) seems to to pair him with his Best Friend Forever, the Unearth Mechanic. So, I set about to brew a deck that seeks to put lots of cards in the yard and, from there, get lots of cards onto the battlefield. In a fair way.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=410014&type=card+http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=386309&type=card
Geralf would probably feel right at home on Grixis... until someone helped themselves to his "vis."
So, to start with, the core of the deck is going to be Amalgam and Dregscape Zombie. If you can dump these in the yard, you're putting 5 power into play for B, which seems awesome. The next question is, "What kind of discard outlet do I want?" This question answers itself as you ask it, and that answer is Zombie Infestation[/b]. For two mana, both parts of your Zombie dash are dumped into the yard AND you get another Zombie out of it. Great! Of course, given that we want discard to be central to the deck, it is probably not wise to rely on a single four-of to get the engine going. Additionally, it would be great if we could get our 5 power out on turn 2 instead of 3. Again, our search ends almost immediately because Wizards printed the best 1 drop discard outlet a long time ago: [cards]Putrid Imp.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=270454&type=card http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=383057&type=card
The best discard outlets for what we want to do - this deck builds itself!
Alright, so if our gameplan is to dump cards into our yard to replay Amalgam, we need things that synergize with that. We always want to have a creature in our yard that lets us get Amalgam back repeatedly to avoid losing to something dumb like Wrath of God. We also want more ways to get incidental discard for profit. here, I turn to Rotting Rats, which his your opponent and is awesome if you've pushed yourself to hellbent already.
I also like Stitchwing Skaab. I know, I know, but hear me out. It's an evasive Zombie, which (other than Putrid Imp) is not common. It can be played from the yard to rebuy Amalgam. It's also another way to get your cards into the yard in the first place; turn 1 Imp pitching whatever into turn 2 3/1 flyer with more Unearth next turn is a legitimate threat (in a word of casual decks).
All of this seems like a fine way to get the aggro ball rolling quickly and aggressively, but once our opponent casts a Craw Wurm, what do we do with our little Zombies? We need a top end. Luckily, we have a few really great Zombies from recent sets that both can be a massive top end as a result of all the graveyard stupidity we're doing: Diegraf Colossus and Gurmag Angler. They even come down in the right order: Colossus curves off of your initial yard dump, giving you a reason to still fill it even if you don't have an Amalgam, and then Angler comes down a little bit later to keep the fat flowing.
So, we have a low end that tries to accelerate out of the yard, some recursion to keep the pressure on, and a decent top end to overcome barriers. Great! The last few slots should address a few weaknesses left: we need some removal and some card advantage to make up for the fact we're dumping our hand so fast. Fleshbag Marauder gives us some removal, Graveborn Muse can potentially draw a ton of cards to reload, and Thought Scour keeps the yard flowing while digging deeper.
Finally, the lands. Since we have Angler, I think we're better off running some fetchlands. It's casual, so we're talking Mirage Fetchlands, maybe some Terramorphic Expanses. Finally, anytime I'm playing with Fleshbag, I want to also have Unholy Grotto to allow recursion. Put it all together...?
Creatures
4 Dregscape Zombie
2 Rotting Rats
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Stitchwing Skaab
4 Gurmag Angler
Discard Outlets
4 Putrid Imp
4 Zombie Infestation
Removal
2 Fleshbag Marauder
Draw
2 Thoughtscour
2 Graveborn Muse
Lands
4 Bad River
2 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Unholy Grotto
5 Island
7 Swamp