[Legacy, Casual] Zombies Bidding

[thebigkirbousky]

I have wanted a decent zombie deck for so long, but found that straight up aggro zombie was just inferior to a lot of other aggro decks that I was playing against (goblins, affinity, fish).

When Planar Chaos came out, I saw in Damnation (and the black madness cards in the Time Spiral/PC sets) a chance to utilize a card that I have been drooling over for some time but couldn't fit into my zombie deck, Zombie Infestation. I could play cards that I was using to build a token army via Infestation with madness, and also have the option of clearing the board with Damnation and using Patriarch's Bidding to raise the discarded creature cards from Infestation. The two problems I saw with this were

a) I would soon not have any cards in my hand

b) how many non creature cards can I run in the deck and Bidding still be effective?

Here is the decklist, with the basic strategy of using Infestation to fill up the graveyard while creating tokens to block/attack and/or sac until you can clear the board (Damnation, other removal) and play a Bidding with a full graveyard.


Zombies Bidding

4x carrion feeder
3x putrid raptor
4x withered wretch
3x brain gorgers
2x noxious ghoul
2x nefashu
2x waning wurm
2x graveborn muse

4x cabal therapy
3x dark withering
3x Patriarch's Bidding
2x Damnation
3x zombie infestation

20x swamps
1x cabal coffers
2x unholy grotto

Card Choice

Graveborn Muse- I think that Muse will give the deck needed draw, and fuel Infestation. Do I need 3?

Carrion Feeder- Sacrificing tokens can make this thing a monster; also it allows you to sacrifice Muse/other zombies to avoid taking fatal damage from Muse

Putrid Raptor- allows you to get creatures to your graveyard and is essentially a 4/4 for 3

Nefashu/Noxious Ghoul- removal and beaters after Bidding

Withered Wretch- remove threats form opponents graveyard (esp. against Goblins that would benefit from Bidding)

Dark Withering- I put this in the deck because of its madness ability, there might be a better choice for this spot though?

This being a casual deck, I used all swamps instead of wastelands or fetch lands, but if I did decide to try it out at tourney, any ideas on the mana base? 

I also haven’t as of yet added a sideboard

All of the decks I play against are Legacy legal, and good (Goblins, Fish, Affinity, ect.), but not ones that are going to be winning major tourneys (expect maybe the damn goblins), and I would like this deck to be competitive with them, so that is why I posted this in the Casual Forum rather than the Legacy Forum.

I plan on play testing this deck some today, and will post what I find out. 

I'm sure there are some cards I overlooked, and probably a few flaws that I have missed. If you have any suggestions or helpful criticism please post.







 

[Ephraim]

You had mentioned that you're not sure about Dark Withering.  It depends on your discard outlets an awful lot just to be playable, so I think that you can do better.  Here are the full changes that I would recommend for this deck:

-3 Dark Withering
-1 Withered Wretch

+3 Vengeful Dead
+1 Damnation

I recommend this because Vengeful Dead turns your board clearing into a win condition.  Even if your opponent has managed to build a more formidable army than you have, Vengeful Dead makes casting Damnation even less painful for you.  I can certainly envision Patriarch's Bidding on turn X and then an alpha strike attack followed by Damnation on Turn X+1 being a reliable way for you to win games.

[technogeek5000]

Ok 3 cards you want to play are...

Dark ritual
sarcomancy
carophage

(sarcomancy and carnophage are 2/2 zombies for one mana)

[Ephraim]

Carnophage seems at odds with this deck's goal of not being all-out aggro.  Granted, pairing it with Carrion Feeder lets you get rid of it when it ceases to be useful.  Sarcomancy is less risky, but has less synergy with the rest of the deck.  It doesn't really pair all that well with Carrion Feeder and it doesn't come back with Patriarch's Bidding.  Furthermore, what cards should be taken out of the deck to make room for them?

Dark Ritual is always good in a black deck, but if the deck is casual, there's no shame whatsoever in leaving that kind of cheese out.

[thebigkirbousky]

I never even considered Vengeful Dead, but it looks like they would be a good fit in the deck, Thanx


I was able to play this deck some over the weekend. With the above decklist the deck did not fair too well at all, and I soon realized that some changes would have to be made for the deck to even have a chance to win. Here is the deck list that I switched to,

19x swamps
1x cabal coffers
4x dark ritual

4x carrion feeder
2x vengeful dead
3x putrid raptor
4x withered wretch
3x brain gorgers
2x noxious ghoul
1x nefashu
4x graveborn muse

4x zombie infestation
4x cabal therapy
3x damnation
2x patriarch's bidding

With this decklist the deck was competative, and a lot of fun. I still think that I could fine tune it a little.

I thought that I could run more zombies over dark ritual in this deck, but that was a mistake. After I put the dark rituals in it started running much smoother, its nice to be able to play some of the high mana cost cards from your hand or your graveyard (Bidding). Plus a 1st turn raptor is rather nice.

I also upped both Graveborn Muse and Zombie Infestation to 4 ofs. Graveborn Muse turned out to be the decks MVP, allowing me to draw 3-5 cards a turn on average.

Cards I took out-

Dark Withering- As you mentioned, it is only useful when Zombie Infestation is in play.

Waning Wurm- As much as I like the idea of having a few 7/6 coming out of the graveyard, I have to make some cuts.

Unholy Grotto- Again I needed room, and after adding the rituals I thought I could do without these.

Nefashu- I like this guy, but I'm probably not going to be playing him from my hand, and again I needed room

Things I'm still not to sure about

Braing Gorgers- I thought that these guys would be a really good fit in this deck. I can play them off ZI and Putrid Raptor, but I had them counter several times, which was like paying 1B to destroy a 1/1. I like having them in the deck for the madness ability (4/2 for 2), but I'm wondering if I could use these 3 slots better.

Only 2 Patriarch's Bidding- If I resolve one, I win, but I found that several games it was just sitting in my hand. Maybe I just wasn't being aggressive enough with it?

Attrition- I am thinking about adding this card to the deck, but I dont know what I would cut. Maybe for the sideboard?

I'm still playing around with how many of some cards should be in the deck, esp. Bidding, Damnation, Infestation, and Cabal Therapy. The last three maybe shaving one off, and the first maybe putting one back.

As I metioned above, Muse is my new favorite card in this deck, Drawing 4 or 5 cards for a few turns is meandeck, but the life loss can add up quick, would adding a Claws of Gix be a good idea? I don't know what I would cut, and for the most part I can keep the lifeloss under control with Carrion Feeder and Cabal Therapy.

I had to write this post in a rush, so I apologize for any typos or if I wasn't as clear as I could have been on somethings, please let me know if you have any more ideas/ suggestions.



 

[Shake]

A couple of zombie packages that you might consider.

3x Haalkon Stromgald Scourge and 4x Knights of Stromgald. 
They would do what you are trying to do with the Patriarch’s Bidding, that is, add card advantage after mass removal. 

I also found a few zombies that I liked in my zombie/reanimation deck are Twisted Abominations because they’ll boost the Biddings power and smooth your draws.  Also Rotlung Reanimators, especially if you keep in the Withered wretches.  Despite their cost they are surprisingly effective in a legacy enviroment, usually creating a card advantage/stall, and would give you a presence on the board after the wrath. 

Two one-ofs that I have are Undead Gladiator and Soulless One.  I don’t know if Soulless One should be more than a one-of, but he’s usually an 8/8 or so when he comes out. 

Also, I found I needed some life gain, because as much as I loved the graveyard muses, they would often kill me.  I added Jittes and Sword of Light and Shadow.  I'm not a fan of life gain though, but its worked alright.