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Well, Faithful Readers, I have good news and bad news. First, the good news. I am getting all sorts of decks with promise and originality. That's good. Now the bad news. There are enough decks that I cannot write about each one and hope to make any headway. If you don't see your deck posted, and see an article about a similar deck, do not be discouraged. I read every deck list sent to me, and I get a lot of ideas from them.

Here's some huge news: B&R has come out, and it looks like Necropotence, Demonic Consultation, Survival of the Fittest, and Replenish have gone the way of New Kids on the Block. This hurts a lot of competitive decks, but for those of you who don't care how many copies of a card you have in your deck, it's irrelevant. I try and keep the decks in one environment or another, so keep that in mind.

Lately, I've been getting a lot of mail about Black and Red decks. Goblins and Zombies. The Undead and the Underground. The Rotten and the Rotting. To be honest, I'm not sure which one is better. You could always compare Hatred to Sligh, but we all know who wins that one, barring the Hatred sideboard having four Bottle Gnomes and four Masticore. But what about two Black/Red decks, one focused on Goblins and one on Zombies? I'll limit these decks to Type Two, but there are many good Zombies (Carnophage) and Goblins (Mogg Fanatic) in Extended and beyond.

Judging from the submissions, Terminate is a given card for both decks. The respective Lords, Lord of the Undead and Goblin King, both get a good amount of use. Dralnul's Crusade pops up in the occasional Goblin deck. Phyrexian Scuta is known to pop up in both. I would post an example, but I've gotten so many, I don't know where to start!

Since most Goblin decks are mono red, I thought I'd try one of these first. Type Two isn't that good to Goblins, so this won't be the best deck. Sorry, but it'll have to work. There is an article of mine on the Pojo about Type 1.x Goblin decks, take a look at that for more information.

Jagged Lightning
4 Terminate
3 Dralnul's Crusade
4 Shock
4 Urza's Rage (or Thunder Clap, Rhystic Lightning)

4 Goblin Sentry
4 Goblin Spy
4 Goblin King
4 Raging Goblins
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Mogg Sentry

15 Mountain
7 Swamp

Yeah, I don't like it either. Sorry folks, it was the best I could do for this environment. No matter what I tried, I got Garbage Goblins. Don't play this deck. It rots. You want Goblins, you want Extended.

Now things get interesting. We're talking Zombies here folks, and Zombies are WAY cooler than Goblins. Zombies are bigger, faster, and have a better lord. The deck should look something like this…

DONNER PARTY 2K1

4 Lord of the Undead
4 Phyrexian Scuta
4 Nightscape Familiar
4 Shivan Zombie
4 Chimeric Idol
2 Pyre Zombie

4 Dark Ritual
4 Terminate
4 Seal of Fire
4 Stupor (Persecute once Seventh Edition comes out)

10 Swamp
5 Mountains
4 Sulfurous Springs
3 Uborg Volcano

I'm happy with this deck for now. The Chimeric Idols are there because of cards like Light of Day, Teferi's Moat, and Story Circle. They aren't technically Zombies, but they aren't technically creatures either, so there. You'll be happy I recommend them.

Now, for all you casual playing people who just want to eat some brains, check this out….

4 Sarcomancy
4 Carnopahge
4 Lord of the Undead
4 Phyrexian Scuta
4 Shivan Zombie
2 Pyre Zombia

4 Dark Ritual
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Bad Moon
3 Terminate

7 Swamp
5 Mountains
3 Rocky Tar Pit
4 Badlands
4 Sulfurous Springs

I love this deck. It has early game, it has mid game, it has late game. It has removal, it has recursion. It has big creatures, it has aggressive weenies. I love this deck. Break it out on people. Trust me, it's fun. It's not Type 2, it's not Extended, but, boy, is it ever fun.

Can Zombies pull through and put B/R decks on the map? Maybe. I think that there is a missing piece of the equation, and nobody has it yet. Apocalypse may have that key, so might Seventh has few good Zombies, but a host of playable Goblins, so both have a definite shot at making the metagame. The future looks bright indeed.
Until Fairy, Pixie, and Brownie decks become all the rage, Make Mine Magic.

Kevin Williams
Kevin@pojo.com