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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Zombie Mill Deck
August 26, 2009

> hey my name is anthony. i am running a zombie mill deck but it loses to much to control,
> aggro, and when it was still playable wrath of god decks. i like zombies so i would like to keep the zombie theme going.

> here is the list:
>  
> planeswalkers (2)
> 1x Chandra Nalaar
> 1x  Liliana Vess
>  
> Creatures (23)
> 2x Grixis Slavedriver
> 1x Nantuko Husk
> 1x Kathari Remnant
> 1x Fatestitcher
> 1x Lich Lord Unx
> 1x Nemesis of Reason
> 1x Deathbringer thoctar
> 4x vedalken ghoul (love how it says "i dare u to
> block me")
> 3x jhessian zombies
> 4x sewn eye drake
> 4x Grixis grimblade
>  
> Artifacts (2)
> 2x unscythe , killer of kings
>  
> instants (8)
> 4x Counter Squall
> 3x agony warp
> 1x soul manipulation
>  
> sorcery(6)
> 3x brainbite
> 3x blightning
>  
> Lands (22)
> 2x Grixis panorama
> 2x crumbling necropolis
> 6x mountain
> 6x swamp
> 6x island
>  
> thnks bmoor


Alright Anthony. If you're going to build a Zombie theme deck, the first thing you need to do is make sure that it actually matters that your creatures are Zombies. The only such card you have so far is Lich Lord of Unx, and only one of that one. So the first thing you need to do is invest in a few copies of Cemetary Reaper and/or Death Baron. Probably a full set of each if you can swing it.

What to remove for them? Jhessian Zombies, Fatestitcher,and Nantuko Husk, for starters. Without Lord of the Undead to recur your Zombies, the Husk loses a lot of luster. Plus, I'm guessing you want this to be Standard-legal.

You should also pull Vedalken Ghoul. Yes, the 4 life looks cool, but in practice it never works out. Aggro decks can attack back for much more than the 1 damage a turn he deals unblocked, and control usually knows whether or not it can draw a kill spell before you get in the five hits with it that would make it less painful to block immediately, and so knows whether or not to just pull the Band-Aid now or wait and deal with it slowly. If you really want a two-drop Zombie, you've already got Grixis Grimblade and can also use Zombie Outlander.

Kathari Remnant is worth bringing in a few more of, since it can cascade into a Death Baron or Cemetary Reaper, and then you've got a 1/2 flying regenerator, possibly with deathtouch. It can also hit Blightning or Lich Lord of Unx, or really pretty much any spell you want. Last time I checked, cascade is good.

And finally, if you want to use mill as a win condition, you want to give Jace Beleren a test drive. He draws you extra cards, and you won't really mind that your opponent draws extra too when you mill him for twenty.

My only criticism of the Zombie tribe in Standard is that there is currently no real way to bring them "back from the dead" as their flavor demands. The best you can hope for is the Reaper, who just exiles them and makes 2/2 Zombie tokens. Most of the actual Zombies you play are stronger than a vanilla 2/2, so using the Reaper to "reanimate" them feels like trading down. You could use Rise from the Grave, but when most of your creatures cost less than five mana, paying 4B to get a Grixis Grimblade also feels like a trade-down.

Alas. You'll have to stick with Blightning and Brainbite for your card advantage, I suppose.

Good luck!

~BMoor