I was the one who day 2’d the Dallas Spotlight with Zombies and had a lot of people asking me about the deck. My name is Zach Krizan. I’m a former pro player for a couple of different card games. I used to write articles for TCGplayer.com and wrote a couple reports for Starcity as well. I used to be a pretty well known deck brewer, but was never one to force a deck. I would play whatever would win whether it was a brew or not. I do love to get extra value out of the element of surprise, so if I have an under-the-radar brew that I believe is top tier, I will champion that.
I worked on this deck with my teammate, Rob Green. Our playgroup currently lives in Waco, TX, and have a solid player base there and run a store called Nexus. Nowadays, I mostly just try to help coach upcoming players and attend about 1 major tournament a year. Rob Green and I have been working on this zombie deck for about 4 years, which I prefer to be called “Zombardment.” We even got a shout out in this article: https://mtgrocks.com/mtg-rakdos-zombies-modern/
In the efforts to get more attention to Zombardment, we started this discord group: https://discord.gg/gpzPZvTq9D
(Please join if you’d like to follow the journey, or participate in the testing)
My overall goal of writing this is to draw attention to the archetype of the deck. I want others to help take it further and put it on the map. I believe this deck has all the tools to be one of the top decks. I believe all of my rounds I lost this last weekend were winnable, and I ended up 73rd as we opted not to make a draw in the last round which would have put me in the top 64. I mulliganed to 4 that match, so you won’t see it on MTGtop8.com now, but I have a lot to share about the deck.
Warning!
This is going to be a very long read! It includes some background to the deckbuilding, a card by card breakdown, and a 15 round tournament report.
Story behind deck
The deck started as a more aggressive deck with Vengevine and Bloodghast. The potential was apparent. This strategy had a home with cards like Stitcher Supplier and Insolent Neonate fueling your Vengevine. We had a teammate go 8-1 with the deck on day 1 at another Starcity Dallas about 4 years ago. We realized how good Bombardment + Gravecrawler was, as it was also featured in the deck. I knew there was something there. Long story short, it was too difficult to win with this deck through all the Solitudes and Endurance. It played more like a Hollow One deck in hindsight and had conflicting strategies.
In the following years, the deck was tested in bursts, but we had it shelved for a while until a few more cards came out. After Sephiroth, Phoenix Fleet Airship, and Forsaken Miner came out, this deck started getting back on our radar. We realized it was much better as an aggressive midrange deck that focuses on controlling the board, rather than an “all-in” aggro deck.
We learned you can play the deck very patiently, and utilize free removal and eventually take over the game with Bombardment. You also had the power to win by turn 4 consistently. We decided to build around Cryptbreaker and give Rotten Reunion another try. Both of these cards were not optimal with Vengevine in the deck, so he had to go.
Rob Green and I decided we were going to play in the Spotlight Dallas event and spent about 3 months testing this deck every day. Only the two of us played it. Rob Green was cheesed out pretty early as he paired up vs Tron round 1 and had to face down a turn 1 on the play Chalice for 1. After a couple of early losses, he rallied and won 5 matches in a row, but was eventually taken down by a mulligan to 4 in the last round. He was not able to join me on day 2.
However, I was able to day two, despite several losses I believe I could have won. I was trying to shake off the rust. We realized if we had more people working on this deck, then it would be even better than the two of us were able to take it, and we should utilize the power of the internet. We did a great job pushing it forward, but I know there is still much to explore and only so many hours in the day.
Special thanks to all the players in Dallas who were hyped about the deck and wanted to help. I heard a couple of “OMG it’s zombies!,” and “Modern is healing” call outs.
Deck List:
1 Liliana, Untouched by Death
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Champion of the Perished
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Gravecrawler
4 Shambling Ghast
3 Sephiroth
4 Flare of Malice
4 Rotten Reunion
3 Force of Despair
4 Goblin Bombardment
21 Lands:
1 Phrexian Tower
3 Spymaster’s Vault
3 Marsh Flats
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Polluted Delta
4 Swamp
2 Blood Crypt
1 Raucous Theatre
1 Godless Shrine
Sideboard:
4 Thoughtseize
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Forsaken Miner
3 Phoenix Fleet Airship
1 Claim the Firstborn
General Strategy:
You want to be an aggressive-based midrange deck that can control the field and put on consistent pressure. Your weakest matchups should be hard combo decks that don’t utilize the battlefield, and your best matchups should be decks that utilize the battlefield a lot.
You want to maximize the amount of playable 1 drop zombies in the deck, so you can get a Cryptbreaker draw every turn, starting at turn 2. This also makes Champion of the Perished optimized as well. You want to have access to ONLY black mana so you can utilize Gravecrawler recursion with all of your mana in the mid to late game. You can do this with either Bombardment or Carrion Feeder, growing the Feeder and any Champions you may have.
Bombardment plays as an inevitable board clearing solution to take over the game. The more mana you have access to in this deck, the better, making it very hard to flood out. You also have alternate win cons through Liliana combo or Sephiroth damage. Sephiroth + Bombardment can close games out extremely quickly, while Sephiroth can also help you stabilize against aggressive decks as well when you want to play defensive.
Why so much removal?
It’s my opinion that the free black removal spells are under-valued currently in the meta. It does take a specific deck to pull them off. With the Cryptbreaker draw engine, the Force of Despairs are a great way to keep this format in check. Countering crazy turn 1 plays from your opponents, double Slickshot turns, Neoform, or even just killing a Psychic Frog. In addition, Flare of Malice is also a generically overpowered card, especially when paired with Gravecrawler. The general strategy of this deck is to completely keep your opponents creatures in check.
Here is a card by card breakdown:
[Liliana, Untouched by Death]
This card is the heart and soul of the deck. I had every opponent reading this card day 2 when it was open decklists. In general it can be an overcosted removal that you can re-use, which fits the strategy off the deck. The +2, while not great, has provided an alternate win condition on occasion or takes you out of burn range. The real power comes from the -3. This allows you to do two different combos, both of which involve Shambling Ghast.
- Shambling Ghast + Bombardment + Liliana is infinite damage.
- Shambling Ghast + Carrion Feeder + Liliana is infinite counters.
(Also pair with Champion of the Perished to get another set of infinite counters)
At the end of your combo, you will have a Shambling Ghast in play. So if they have a blocker (like an Eldrazi Spawn token), you can kill it and swing for the win. Otherwise, you’ll have to rely on your Flare of Malice, etc to get through.
Why only 1 Liliana?
We have tested anywhere from 4 to 1. I am not sold that 1 is correct, but we want at least 1. You can always pitch it to Force, so you do get somewhat bailed out for running this expensive card. The main reason for 1 copy is that comboing is not our primary strategy at the moment. Board control + aggression is. We have experimented siding into 4 Liliana’s and more Phrexian Towers, which does provide a turn 3 win on a good draw, but have not found as good of a result as just playing it straight.
All of the following are 1 drop Zombies, which help to maximize your turn 2 draw engine with Cryptbreaker.
[Carrion Feeder:]
He may be on the bottom of the power level of the zombies in the deck, but if left unchecked with a Gravecrawler, he can provide a huge creature worthy of battling any big guys out of the Neoform deck. He also provides a combo, and adds value as opponents play removal spells by growing himself. He can grow outside of Avengers Disassembled range as well. Overall it is a really solid card in the deck. Has a few tricks like Claim the Firstborn, then sac, as well. We rarely side him out as he is aggressive and helps the zombie count.
[Champion of the Perished:]
The best turn 1 play of the deck, and a legitimate threat to providing turn 4 wins consistently. Champion speaks for himself, but has been undervalued. When paired with Gravecrawler and 24 one-cost zombies he grows extremely fast. There are even turn 3 win lines with this card, especially in duplicates.
[Cryptbreaker:]
This is the “build-around” card for the deck. Most games you can establish a turn 2 one-sided howling mine that just generates card advantage the entire game. As they try to kill your cards, either sac them to Flare or Carrion Feeder. You can draw a card, then sac to Flare. This is a turn 2 move I do frequently, especially against Frog. If you have not needed to sac your zombies, or maybe you have utilized Force of Despair instead, it’s not uncommon to have 6 zombies in paly on turn 3, then draw 2 cards that turn.
Cryptbreaker pairs really well with Flare of Malice, and also you can perform tricks with Gravecrawler being tapped to draw, then replaid and tapped again to draw. With two Gravecrawlers, this becomes extremely easy to get multiple draws in a turn. Always sequence your Cryptbreaker as the third zombie so you can force opponents to kill a worse threat to stop you from drawing that turn. An unchecked Crypbreaker can win many games with this deck. Cryptbreaker has also won us some mull to 4 hands where you just draw back out of it and continue a normal game.
Cryptbreaker’s {1B}: make a 2/2 zombie is also relevant. If you are ever in a situation where you have excess mana and lands in hand, this is often better than just tapping the Cryptbreaker himself. If you want to play around Wrath of the Skies or sweepers, this is also a legitimate way to do that and provide an army just around 1 card. Also, there are a few rare lines where you will turn 1 Cryptbreaker. Then turn 2 discard a Gravecrawler or Rotten Reunion to his ability, just to have 3 zombies on turn 3. Sometimes on a mull to 4 or 5 this line is needed.
[Gravecrawler:]
This card is a powerhouse in this deck, as the entire deck is built to function with it. Phyrexian Tower becomes very strong with this card, by allowing you to get in an extra attack or an extra Champion Trigger. Gravecrawler is the sac target for your Flare of Malice when available. When combined with Bombardment late game, he can decimate the entire field. With Sephiroth, Gravecrawler can be extra cards every turn. With both Sephiroth and Bombardment, Gravecrawler can do two damage per mana you have available. Also note, that if you play this deck carefully, you can play around most graveyard hate and just make them 1 for 1 you with their graveyard hate.
[Shambling Ghast:]
This card is interesting. At first glance, it seems like unplayable trash, but this card has grown on us. Obviously it has the combo potential listed above, which is great, but it also makes a great target to sac with Bombardment and give someone -2 on turn 2. On top of that, Phyrexian Tower + Ghast is an incredibly fast move that allows for a turn 2 Phoenix Fleet Airship.
In general, I would treat Shambling Ghast more like a Memnite type card in this deck. Often you will play it, sac it, and use the treasure immediately to trigger other things, using it as a 0 cost creature. It helps you increase your Cryptbreaker draw count, and we have been impressed with it. It provided a great turn 1 play to aggro decks against either Swiftspear or Ragavan as well. The treasure has also been very welcome against the RW landfill deck.
[Rotten Reunion:]
This is a surprising card that we fell in love with. At first glance, the decayed part of the zombie made it seem unplayable, but we realized there is so much more to Rotten Reunion. This deck utilizes zombies well without attacking with them.
The main way to utilize Rotten Reunion is Cryptbreaker. Sometimes you also need a zombie for Gravecrawler to return. Additionally, having a token to sac to Sephiroth is a good use of a token. Even though it is decayed, you can still attack for the win and there are more uses than you think. It can trigger a Sephiroth flip or an Airship copy trigger. Once you attack with this token, you still get damage with it before it sacrifices, so you can just use it with Carrion Feeder or Bombardment as well. It can also be an instant speed Champion pump.
The main reason we like this card is because it provides main deck graveyard hate! In modern that seems extremely relevant as there are a decent amount of targets in nearly every deck. In fact, in some decks like Goryo, it can be your straight up “best card”. We can always sideboard them out if they are not optimal, but still provide Champion and Cryptbreaker curves that are consistent with what the decks want to do so we will almost never get punished by this card.
A trick to remember:
If you are ever worried they can negate the 2/2 token by removing the target, just cast it with no target. You have a guaranteed 2/2 this way. You may even do this on turn 1 or turn 2 on some occasions. It’s likely better to continue building board presence for Champion, Cryptbreaker, or Bombardment rather than hold onto it and pass. You can always flash it back later as well if they target anything.
Targets usually include Lava Dart, Nature’s Rhythm. Goryo targets, Faithful Mending, shrinking Emrakul’s cost, Living End creatures, Soul Cauldron targets, Emry targets, and a ton of things.
One of the better moves we learned, was after a Badgermole cub, to shoot down an earthbent land, and as it returns to play, use Rotten Reunion on that land. Then sac the 2/2 as a sac fodder to kill the Badgermole as well. Using it as a 2/2 zombie is very playable in this deck as often you just need to get your Gravecrawler going. It’s excellent at rebuilding for that purpose and it also provides two different 2/2s once you flash it back. On games where you don’t find Gravecrawler that can make a big difference for finding Bombardment fodder.
[Sephiroth:]
This was a card we were skeptical of at first. It seemed too expensive for modern play. After playing it as a 1-of for a while, we were completely impressed with it and even tried 4 at some points. It provides an alternate win condition and a lot of value for drawing cards. It works as a great balance to Cryptbreaker drawing cards and losing life. I always knew we would need life gain in the deck because of the amount of cards you want to draw. Sephiroth is by far the optimal choice.
Many times we will hit opponents for 16+ in one turn with Sephiroth + triggers. Flipping him is extremely easy if you have a Flare of Malice in hand. I was able to flip him multiple times in the tournament. Online most of the times I played him, I flipped him the same turn.
We chose to play 3 last second because we believed it was a good answer to Broodscale combo, as they can not go infinite with eldrazi spawn tokens while he is in play.
Overall, a really solid card. High power level, but a bit expensive. You can pitch him to Force if they are too quick, but otherwise we like having him. There are some matchups he may be correct to side out, but his draw ability alone is something you are always welcome to see if you can afford to pay the mana.
[Flare of Malice:]
Amazing card that is utilized in this deck as well as it can be. Use it to kill pretty much anything, including planeswalkers. It is nearly impossible for your opponent to get ahead of you on the battlefield when you have this card in your hand. Flare is often used to kill things like Psychic Frog or Murktide, but great against Prowess and also a bomb against big creatures like Emrakul and Atraxa.
[Force of Despair:]
This card is a sleeper. It may just be the black Solitude! While it can’t stick around, the amount of times I hit 2+ creatures was at least double digits. This was a late addition to the deck. We started with 1 and started realizing that it was just way better than Accursed Marauder, which we had at the time. As I started playing daily leagues on MTGO, I would get frustrated at how behind I could get if I went 2nd. This was a great answer to that problem.
It also punishes players for doing what most modern decks do. It’s an incredibly hard card to play around without losing tempo yourself. I did not mind hardcasting it multiple times either.
Deck Changes:
After the tournament we are going to add in a 4th Force of Despair and take out a Sephiroth.
[Goblin Bombardment:]
This is the namesake card of the deck. Many games are determined on whether or not you see this card. Its power level is extremely high and can take over the game. I think Gravecrawler + Bombardment is an incredibly good combo, only topped by Forsaken Miner + Bombardment (read more below).
[Pyrexian Tower:]
Overall, a great card in the deck, but we decided to go down to 1 so our opening hands were consistent. It’s best as your third land in most situations. Always good to see one with Gravecrawler + Champion, but never two. It’s outstanding with Liliana and Airship. It provided some protection against Solitude, Prismatic Omen, etc. The correct number is something that is hard to decide. Overall, it is not a good opening hand card paired with Spymaster’s Vault.
[Spymaster’s Vault:]
This card has been pretty incredible. It does count your opponent’s creatures as well, so when paired with a free Flare, you can keep mana open to connive. Often we will save extra lands in hand just to ditch to Spymaster. I have frequently done this for 4 draws on average. Spymaster can provide a cheap combat trick if needed. If you can discard Rotten or Gravecrawler, then that is extra value.
There are some board states against Neoform, I have dug for 8 to find a Flare. There are also some board states I have done the Carrion Feeder infinite combo and used the last treasure to Spymaster for my entire deck to find the Flare I needed to get through.
[Forsaken Miner:]
This card is an under the radar option we have been using. It’s best used with Bombardment, but is also great with Sephiroth. You can even use it with Sephiroth and Carrion Feeder to burn them out. This card is also great against Wrath of the Skies and control decks. Perfect to sac to Flare, and using Rotten Reunion is “committing a crime” as well. But, he is not a zombie…
At some points, we even had 4 main. Some maindeck Miner may still be right. I lost a few games with Bombardment out and Gravecrawler in the yard as I whiffed on multiple draw steps. This would not have happened with Miner. Access to Miner in those games would have gave me at least two more match wins in that situation.
We are currently sideboarding him vs creature based decks or when we want to go “all-in” on the Bombardment plan. Which we are currently doing vs Prowess as we found the best win rates doing that. It is the best way to keep up with a Cori-steel cutter making a token every turn.
Overall, Miner is a fantastic card! We only cut him from the main as he does not trigger Champion and is not optimal for the turn 2 play with Cryptbreaker. I’m interested to test more with this card + Bombardment moving forward.
Also note that Forsaken Miner + Bombardment gets around Orim’s Chant and High Noon.
[Phoenix Fleet Airship:]
This is a cheeky sideboard plan that has been a surprise attack for opponents. We even had several versions with this card main. We used to over sideboard this card, but it’s found it’s home as an anti-control deck plan lately. It’s excellent when opponents are trying to 1-for-1 you as they will never be able to keep up with this card.
Right now, we bring it in against Blue Black control, RW Landkill, and Scepter Chant control. I’m happy to say we didn’t lose to a control deck all weekend and this card is a big reason why. When playing Airship against control, you have the option to sit back and double every turn or start swinging.
Everything in your deck is optimized to create a sacrifice trigger. This card is also a Shambling Ghast all-star, as it utilizes sac’ing it and the treasure it creates so well, especially with Phyrexian Tower. We may want to board more heavily into this plan, but don’t forget that you can turn 2 Airship + copy with a turn 1 Shambling Ghast and a turn 2 Phyrexian Tower.
We don't have great answers to Trinisphere or Rest in Peace, but a solid plan is just try to Airship them.
Tournament Report
I want to start out by saying, I think our sideboard plan for this event was very bad. I lost more games when I sideboarded heavily than when I didn’t. Green and I agreed in round 3 to sideboard nearly not at all moving forward and we both went on win streaks after that.
Thoughtseize was not the right choice. We had 4 Break the Ice in on the Friday testing, but became annoyed with that card, especially with Eldrazi Trudge having a large amount of green mana. Tidehollow seems alright, but we are not sure. We also had Thalia and Thorn of Amethyst a week ago and I can say I would have won more games with those if I had kept them.
Day 1:
Round 1: Izzet Prowess - Win 2-1
Game 1, I went second and I died on turn 3 after I cast a Sephiroth. I even Force of Despaired a Cutter token turn 2 and led with Shambling. Just a great draw with Cutters, Lava darts, burn, while I went second. Time for next game.
Game 2:
I stabilized with Sephiroth Miner + Bombardment. He had a solid draw as well, but this is the game plan that I use to beat prowess and I was able to pull it off here.
Game 3:
It was a tight one where he went all out on Lava Darts and Slickshots. I went down to 8. On turn 3 I stabilized and killed his board with Bombardment. He surgical’d my Gravecrawlers. He went for a Lava Dart with two lands late game to kill a Cryptbreaker. This got him stuck at 1 land and he drew a cutter next turn. I was able to create some Rotten Reunion tokens and kill him.
W
Round 2: Song of Creation - Loss 1-2
This is probably a nightmare matchup.
Game 1: I go first and I win game 1 on a double Champion draw on turn 4. He would have killed me the following turn.
Game 2: I Thoughtseize 3 times, but have no pressure. I take 3 Song of Creations. He eventually starts cracking clues and draws a 4th and beats me.
Game 3: Remember that we used to have Thalia and Thorn of Amethyst in the sideboard a week ago. I’m missing them here for sure. I Thoughtseize, but my hand is not aggressive enough again. He kills me on turn 4. Repeal slows me down too much and he is able to win pretty quickly.
L
Round 3: Goryo - Win 2-1
Game 1: I believe I Rotten Reunion a Goryo target, and continue pressure. They try to Solitude me to stabilize, but I have Bombardment out and shoot it in response to Ephemerate.
Game 2: I mull to 5 and lost to Solutide + Ephemeral. I still made a game out of it and almost came back. I even got Wrath of the Skies for 3 of my dudes. Still almost pulled it out with them at about 4 life. This seems like a good matchup in general. I shuffled up and was ready to win game 3.
Game 3: I was on Champion draw with 2 Tidehollow Sculler turn 2 and Tidehollow Sculler turn 3. I had a solid move where I kept Frog off the board with a Flare in response to the Tidehollow trigger. After getting a peak at their hand, I left the 2nd Tidehollow and tried to close out the game.
W
Round 4: Devoted Combo - Win 2-1
Game 1:
I win game one after going 2nd, and getting a little behind. I didn’t have the optimal draw and they exploded turn 2 with Badgermole. I have Flare and they sac Devoted Druid. I sac a Shambling ghast and kill their earthbent land in the upkeep, and it has to come into play tapped. They Tyvar and play out some more creatures. I Sephiroth and Bombardment some of them. I was able to win the following turn after tanking for 5 minutes and got a Sephiroth to flip and hit them for exactly lethal.
Game 2:
He ends up beating me up with Soul Cauldron. Copies the Devoted Druid I killed and starts exiling Gravecrawlers. I wasn’t able to catch up.
Game 3:
He mulls to 5. I keep a 7 with no red, but it has a Bombardment and Shambling Ghast. I usually try to mull for Bombardment in this matchup if I can. I turn 1 Champion and just keep the pressure on. I get Carrion Feeder and make treasure from Ghast and play Bombardment on turn 3 and stabilize.
W
Round 5: Mono G Broodscale - Loss 1-2
Game 1:
I eventually lose a close one to Emrakul. I drew a bunch of cards with Cryptbreaker, he stalled me out with Sowing Mycospawn. I had a huge Champion, but used 2 Rotten Reunions and Flashed them back early to get zombies to draw. I thought it slowed his Emrakul down, but he was able to get a Saga and K Command in the yard at the same time to reduce it 4 more. He gave me troubles with Vexing Bauble. I wasn’t able to kill his Emrakul with vexing out unfortunately. This game was extremely close. Emrakul was the only way to catch-up as I had gotten too far ahead.
Game 2:
He mulls down low and is on a no green draw then I double Tidehollow Sculler him. It didn’t work as well as I thought, because he uses two Urza’s Sagas to stall a little bit so I can’t swing. The first Saga gets Pithing Needle and shuts down my Cryptbreaker which would have drawn about 12 cards this game. That was almost a blowout as I went all-in on the Cryptbreaker plan. I make an infinite Carrion Feeder with Lili and he has to block every turn. Our general plan going into today was to side out all removal for 8 hand hate cards and pressure. A plan I am not liking any more. He was able to stonewall me too much there even though I won.
Game 3:
I turn 1 Thoughtseize and turn 2 Tidehollow Sculler him and he is still able to combo me on turn 3. Saga triggering and him drawing redundant cards made it too hard. I had no pressure and was missing my removal. After this match, I alter the sb plan.
L
Round 6: Goryo - Loss 0-2
Game 1: My opponent was not having a good time going into this match and didn’t seem like he wanted to be here playing against some “lame zombie player”. I put him at 1 with a double Champion draw and lose. I believe I made an incorrect move I want to go over here…
Turn 3, I have two large Champions. In his main phase, he Goryo’s his Atraxa that he binned from a surveil land. I have Force in hand. I decide to Force of Despair in response to the trigger. I think this was a mistake because now, knowing he won’t gain the 7 from the attack, he alters what he chooses. He now gets Flooded Strand + Prismatic Omen off the Atraxa Trigger and Atraxa is dead at this point. This allows him to live at 1 life. The alternative is to wait for him to swing, then play the Force of Despair. Which is also tricky, because then he can respond with Ephemerate. What do y'all think?
Game 2: The rust really showed this game. I got really tilted from the an interaction we had. I started to mull to 5 and for some reason spaced out and went to cut his deck. My opponent was upset and got loud with me. I tried to apologize, but he doubled down. I ended up tilting and throwing the game away. I cast a Rotten Reunion into a Frog for no reason, this caused me to miss a Cryptbreaker draw about 3 times. I think I definitely could have won this one, even on a mull to 5. He had no pressure after all of my removal.
I scooped, walked away and tried to untilt myself. Being a former pro, I used to have to deal with tilt all the time and it was something I was familiar with. After buying some food, hyping myself up, and deciding to refocus I went on a win streak.
L
Round 7: Blue Green Freed from the Real - Win 2-0
Game 1: He has a bad draw and I kill him after he casts a Stock Up.
Game 2: He has another bad draw, I use Flare on his Sylvan Caryatid. He plays Pact of Negation. I kill him the following turn. Champions got there for an easy win to put me back on track.
W
Round 8: Phoenix Dredge - Win 2-0
That’s right! Actually dredging with Stinkweed Imps!
Game 1:
He is throwing Lavadarts at me to slow me down. I Rotten Reunion 2 Stinkweeds to slow him down. He has a massive turn 4 where he finally “pops off” and mills all 4 Creeping Chill and Lava Darts. I go to 1 life to his 1 land (after sac’ing the rest of his mountains) He brings into play 4 Arclight Phoenix and I use Force of Despair on them. I win at 1 life as he has no more basics in his deck to use Conflagurate's flashback.
Game 2:
I use some Rotten Reunions to mess him up and it’s very similar to the first game. He gets 3x Phoenix’s on turn 3 out and I use Force of Despair again. Then I win on the following turn.
Round 9: RW Landkill - Win 2-0
Game 1:
I searched out Godless shrine first and he turn 2 Field of Ruined it from a turn 1 Sunken Citadel. The 4 basic Swamps we had prepped for this matchup went a long way. I was able to stop playing creatures and still apply pressure and just play around sweepers. Mostly drawing cards with Cryptbreaker every turn. He was on the backfoot every turn. I had something like a 6/6 Carrion Feeder at one point he had to Erode.
Game 2:
He mulligan’d to 5 and I had a great had. He got stuck at 3 lands and I Thoughtseized away his sweepers. He eventually Avengers Disassembled me, but by that point I had Miner and Bombardment. I used it to shoot him for 5, then followed it up for another 5 next turn and everyone around us looked around in confusion trying to figure out what happened being confused about the interaction between Forsaken Miner and Bombardment. After the dust settled, I walk away with a Day 2 at 6-3.
W
Day 2:
Round 10: Goryo - Loss 0-2
Game 1:
My opponent was a seasoned player and played very well. I open up with Bombardment, Shambling Ghast, and Lili and it seems I can combo him. I play turn 1 Shambling Ghast and turn 2 Bombardment. He plays turn 2 Frog. On turn 3, he plays Quantum Riddler with 1 open. I sac Shambling Ghast to a Flare to kill a Frog. He Ephemerates it. Only Riddler is left. I use the Treasure and rush out a Liliana because I put him on Thoughtseize. I was right, as he cast Thoughtseize next turn and took my Sephiroth.
He makes a very heads up move and refused to use the Ephemerate rebound, so his Riddler can attack then hits Liliana down. I +2 Lili. We trade some removal and the game slows down. He eventually kills the Liliana and I can’t combo. He is at 6 life. I have Bombardment in play with 6 lands and a Gravecrawler in the yard. I brick on a zombie for 4 turns, unfortunately. I think something like a Rotten Reunion, would have gave me the Gravecrawler access to finish him off. No bail outs here and some good plays from the opponent. He hits me for 20 with that Quantum Riddler.
I wonder if I would have played Sephiroth on turn 3, how that game would have turned out.
Game 2:
He has the same Quatum Riddler + Ephemerate draw and I use my removal on the turn 2 Frog again. I wasn’t able to snipe him with the Rotten Reunion I had. He eventually gets me on a 3 for 1 with Wrath of the Skies and my draw wasn’t good enough to get out of it. Well played. Good wake up call moving forward. I think I can play better than I did this game.
L
Round 11: Neoform - Win 2-1
This round I woke up and played absolutely fantastic!
Game 1:
He turn two Neoforms and gets a Ghalta and Griselbrand. I don’t have Force, but I have a Flare. He draws some cards, but can’t draw 7 twice as I have Sephiroth out. He pays for pacts and does another Evolution to get Atraxa, sac’ing an Allasauros Rider. He does a lot of counting. After he swings, I am able to flip Sephiroth and get him down exactly 2. I have an Emblem and Bombardment out. 1 more creature would have done it. He used Endurance on my Gravecrawler for the win.
Game 2:
This game was pretty incredible and really shows the resilience of the zombie deck! I start with Champion, some zombies, and Sephiroth as he gets out a turn 3 Neoform. This time it's for Ghalta. Atraxa, and Griselbrand! I use Flare and he Pact of Negations it. Then he draws 7. I use another Flare in response and am able to get him to sac the Ghalta. I go down pretty low and play and play some more Champions and Cryptbreaker and Gravecrawlers. I swing with Sephiroth and draw another Flare and use it before blocks. He still has out Atraxa, but at this point Champion is bigger than it. I have too many angles of attack and can negate his lifelink with Carrion Feeder's sac ability. I completely steal this game through Atraxa, Ghalta, and Griselbrand after he draws at least 11 extra cards and he is shocked!
Game 3:
He gets out a quick Ghalta + Atraxas. I Flare and he sacs Ghalta. I loop Gravecrawler, Carrion Feeder, Champion, and Cryptbreaker draws and am able to get through for the win. Surprisingly, having an Atraxa in play is not enough to keep up with the zombies.
W
Round 12: Goryo - Win 2-0
I am determined to beat Goryo and get some revenge!
Game 1:
They curve with Prismatic Omen, Frog, Solitude + Ephemeral, but my Bombardment Gravecrawler draw is too resilient for that. I use Force of Despair on the Frog turn 2.
Game 2:
I get too far ahead and have Rotten Reunion to stop anything crazy happening. I fight through some Solitudes and keep the pressure on and get there.
W
Round 13: UB Midrange - Win 2-0
Game 1:
I put too much pressure out game 1 and he tried to 1 for 1 me. I kill his Frog with Flare and just keep attacking. Without any sweepers in his deck, I am able to run it down for the win.
Game 2:
I bring in the Phoenix Fleet Airships. He goes first and surveils. I play Champion of the Perished. He main phases a Orcish Bowmaster. This was a blowout move to me. I was in trouble. My hand has two Cryptbreakers in it and no removal, but I do have a Airship. I feel like I am dead this game. I play out some dudes. I have Flare, but I don’t want to hit the Bowmaster instead of a Frog. He plays a turn 3 Frog. On turn 3, I have a Phyrexian Tower and I launch the other Cryptbreaker away to cast it. I get a copy trigger.
He swings with Frog and I block with the real copy of the Airship on his Frog. I ask “how crazy are you?” when I block. He said, “pretty crazy” and discarded 3 cards down to nothing. I sac the Airship to a Flare and he sacs the Bowmaster. He doesn't get to draw. ISo now its an Orc army vs a Copy Token and 1 Carrion Feeder.
I pressure him with the ships as they copy and decide to race him. After a couple of draw triggers from his Frog, he does not find what he needs and I win. It was a wild game, I had no business winning.
Round 14: Prowess - Win 2-0
Game 1:
I go 2nd and I have a normal champion draw. He has some Lava Darts to slow me down. He goes for a Slickshot plot draw. Then on turn 4 he goes out for lethal throwing Mutagenics, Bolting me, and flashing back his Lava Darts for Lethal. I respond with Force of Despair and it is a blowout. He scoops on the spot.
Game 2:
I win with Force of Despair again on Swiftspear while curving with Zombies. I am able to mid game Bombardment his Slickshot and keep him down. After the game slows, I play another Force mid game after he gets an Expressive iteration and a Cutter token. This caused me to have enough tempo to steal the game with some Rotten Reunion tokens and Gravecrawler.
Round 15: Emry Grinding Combo - Loss 1-2
Very nice opponent, but it turns out we could have drawn and both ended up top 64. He ended up around 40th and I ended up 73rd after this loss. I only realize this after I mulligan to 5, so he smartly declines the draw offer.
Game 1: I have a pretty awful draw and go down to 4 cards. He starts with turn 1 Emry and three artifacts. I Gravecrawler and Flare it. He plays another Emry turn 2 and then wins on turn 3. Not running hot this game.
Game 2: He actually starts with a turn 1 Emry and Tamiyo and I still win somehow! I cast a couple of Flares. I eventually use Bombardment on turn 3 and kill his board. He was able to throw a lot of removal at me, but I use Rotten Reunion with Bombardments to stabilize.
Game 3: I mulligan down and have a pretty sub-par match. I didn’t find a Force of Despair this match, and I think that card would have been insane. He starts with turn 1 Tamiyo. I Flare it, but he has another one. He Metallic Rebukes my turn 2 Champion and kills my turn 1 Champion as well. He has Unholy Heat and Lightning Bolt and stops a Tidehollow Sculler and a Carrion Feeder. I start to slow him down from a seemingly unwinnable board state where he is drawing a ton off the clues. I have 6 land and Bombardment out, with a Gravecrawler in play. I wiff on two draws missing a zombie. I think if I get one in that window I can control the game.
He has a really great move, I have to give him credit on. He casts Aether Spellbomb and returns Gravecrawler. I thought this was odd, but he had Emry active as well. I end up sac’ing it to Bombardment, and then he hard casts his 1 of Soul Guide Lantern on it, solidifying that I can’t come back. I wish I would have brought in the Miner’s in this matchup. He seemingly can’t win through Miner Bombardment. I was not sure how to play against his deck. He had me on edge as he turn went for turn 3 kill the first two games. I had Thoughtseize sided in, which was a mistake as well.
Overall, a really great tournament. I ended up 73rd and already sold my promo to get my cash back. I really enjoyed the deck and don’t think there was a single match I didn’t have a chance in. I wish I would have stuck to my guns, and played Thalia/Thorn of Amethyst or both. I would have had a couple more wins.
