[Standard] Zombie/Lifelink

[Nickadimoose]

Zombie/Lifelink

Return everything from the graveyard and murder all threats!

[Shznt84]

It cost a lot to bring out, but can can definitely, but adding 2 Necromancer's Covenant may be a nice addition, especially if you are playing against any decks with delirium or other similar graveyard decks (ie- Mortivore).

I also like Skirk Ridge Exhumer, Unbreathing Horde, Zombie Master, and Call to the Grave.  It might make sense to ditch the white and go Mono Black. 

[Nickadimoose]

Yeah those would be brilliant cards to put in a zombie deck, I probably should mention that I'm exclusively wanting to play standard.

[Jabilac]

I'm looking over this deck and I like the Zombie theme you have going but I honestly don't get the Lantern Scout.  He will only give your creature's lifelink the turn he comes into play and when that happens if you don't have board presence and can't afford to swing he just becomes a 3/2 creature.  Also you don't have Murder in your deck

What you could do is add Odric, Lunarch Marshal and then try to get as many relevant abilities on the board at the same time I.E. Lifelink, Flying, vigilance, ect. You could add Lone rider for Lifelink, First Strike.  Vampire Cutthroat for Lifelink and Skulk.  Could toss in a few Flyers to spread flying around to all your creatures like Bygone Bishop, Crow of Dark Tidings, Malakir Familiar, or Aven Sunstriker.  That last one with the double White requirement would be very hard for you to cast with your current mana base.  You would need more access to White mana.

If you do decide to change it up Repost so we can see whats new

[Nickadimoose]

My hopes were to always have board presence but that's my problem, I'm wholly optimistic when it comes to deck-building, always the best case scenario on what the deck could potentially be. In my mind I saw a hoard of zombies on my board, I'm down to like 6 health, my turn starts up -- rainbows spontaneously emerge in the background around where I'm playing and I throw down my lantern scout before combat. Opponent starts dry-heaving and crying when I shoot back up to +20 health.

You're probably incredibly right about the randomness of Lantern Scout in here. I was hoping that between Fleshbag Marauder and the numerous zombie tokens I'm hoping to accumulate that I'll end up being able to control the board by force-sacking opponent's creatures by bringing him back into combat utilizing relentless dead's mechanic. Plus I had in mind that I could use Graf's exile mechanic to get more use out of Lantern Scout once it hits the graveyard and I had no more use for him.

Do you think it would be worth it to pursue the Odric approach and just link the zombies? I have another idea for this deck that I think I'll try out, maybe I can get Odric in the game and utilize that Lone Rider trick, that's one I definitely like the idea of. Think it's even worth it to keep the white side?

[KouriNick]

If the goal is shock and awe and massive lifeswing via Lantern Scout, maybe try Tenacity? It will definitely catch an opponent off guard in a zombie deck, and it gives the added surprise of +1/+1 and untapping. Now you have 3 "Live the Dream Situations"

1. Just like your described situation, low life, full board, draw, cast, turn everything sideways and confetti rains from the sky.

2. Swing with team in a close combat to try and squeak a few damage through, blocks are set so almost everything trades, slightly to your opponents favor, then boom, Tenacity, gain boatloads of life, decimate your opponents creatures in combat, get extra damage through, leaves your creatures untapped and ready to block your opponent as trumpets belt and an impromptu crowd chants your name.

3. Be tapped out and at a low life total, confident in your ability to clean the game up, Tenacity in hand with open mana. Your opponent has an Eldrazi Mimic in play, and drops a Reality Smasher, a hush falls over the crowd, mimic copies the Smasher and he swings with double smasher for Lethal. Just then, you cast Tenacity, crowd gasps, women swoon, and your opponents fragile hold on reality smashes as he collapses to the ground in the fetal position. You block his creatures and take out one of the smashers, leaving enough power to finish him off. As they bring you your crown, you contemplate on the power of instant speed lifelink / untapping.

Of course, these are just best case

[Jabilac]

Going with a White/Black Zombie build will be really difficult imo in this Standard Enviroment.  Blue/Black zombies is a better choice if you want to play Zombies.  Gisa and Geralf, Prized Amalgam (one of my favorite cards ever), Contingency Plan (for graveyard feeding/draw fixes), Compelling Deterrence, Advanced Stitchwing, Geralf's Masterpiece, Haunted Dead, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, and Negate.

I think somewhere in that list you have and the cards I have posted there is a great Standard Zombie deck just waiting to explode.  One of the Forum posters here named Dave274 has a great Zombie deck that they have been using for a while now and they are seeing quite a bit of success.  https://deckstats.net/forum/index.php/topic,21744.15.html you can click there to read the thread.

If you really want to stick with White/Black then I think you need to fall into a more controlling gameplan with things like Pacifism, Anguished Unmaking, Stasis Snare, Murder, Ultimate Price, Languish, Declaration in Stone, Grasp of Darkness, or Ruinous Path.  All those things will let you draw the game out and remove their threats until you can drop an ArchAngel Avacyn, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, or Sorin, Grim Nemesis and also to provide a clear path for Gisela, the Broken Blade, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, or Shambling Vent.  Zombie's could work here as well if you preferred to use them instead of the other creatures.

KouriNick has a great point on Tenacity.  That could be a lifelink play that would be more reliable and controllable by you.  Instant speed anything is always nice.  In the same vein then you could add Grotesque Mutation as a 1 hit Lifelink and that could keep you afloat long enough for you to win.  Alms of the Vein can be nice if you discard it and cast it for its madness cost but that is only gaining you 3 life and wouldn't be worth it if it didn't drain them for 3 at the same time.

[KouriNick]

I agree with Jabilac. The real power of zombies comes in Blue/Black. Though there's something to be said about going Esper with a really light White splash, especially if most of your sideboard cards are white. In theory you could run a Blue / Black Zombie deck with Shambling Vent and one Mainboard Tenacity. Then in the Sideboard have Anguished Unmaking, Declaration in Stone, and Sorin depending on the Matchup. White tends to have most of the best sideboard cards,so having a light splash in that color is probably more a benefit than a hindrance.

[Nickadimoose]

KouriNick by sheer description of those awesome situations I have fallen in love with Tenacity, so in love that it hurts. I want confetti and impromptu crowds. Nay, I need confetti and impromptu crowds chanting my name, it's what I've been missing all my life.

Jabilac/KouriNick, after looking intensely at Dave274's deck and the progressive builds I can safely say that via play-testing hands using the in-built system with this website that I can confirm that my current zombies wouldn't survive in an aggressive match-up, mainly because I'm failing to utilize the core mechanic of zombies effectively. I'm hard-casting each zombie and then grabbing them from the graveyard upon death, when I could be milling my own deck to chain zombies from the graveyard in an act of pure, awesome, corpsy aggression.

I'm going to try a redo of this deck here in a few based around the idea of going esper with a light white splash. I'm thinking about utilizing Stoneforge Masterwork -- a card I've always been in love with but never had the chance to use, it could really cause some damage with zombies that can return to the field upon play, but overall I think the model you both presented for the blue/black zombies is too effective to ignore.

[Nickadimoose]

Oh hell...how do people go three colors in this type of deck? I can't think of anything to cut now that I'm here considering 3 colors and my Stoneforge Masterwork idea? Out the window with the discard mechanic. I'd have to jump the deck another 10-12 cards from 60 (which I don't want to do but may if I can get the numbers right) to even stand a chance at hitting the cards that I need, maybe I can bolster up the draw/discard mechanic and go through a percentage of my deck early game? No idea, anyways, thoughts on the changes?

https://deckstats.net/decks/70444/542753-the-brain-train-/en

[Nickadimoose]

Update:: I got obliterated by Bant company. The engine is just too slow and very vulnerable against removal, especially now that Spell Queller is a thing. I think zombies will do better as soon as Collected Company phases out, when it worked though, it very much worked. Not a lot of good cards with reach to stop flyers though -- in another test against a custom made Vampires theme deck I ended up getting destroyed by Khalitas, since nothing actually "dies" once he's on the opponent's board, thus I have nothing to bring back. It was a real sad showing. A control zombies deck is probably the desired, a slower zombie engine but with a decent shift of removal I don't have to rely on phasing to keep my zombie engines alive.

I was behind on mana, creatures & removal against the Bant company show! :*(

[Zenmaster333]

I think with this deck you probably should get your hands on a Liliana, the Last Hope or two --four would be great, but who has that kind of money right? anyway I think this deck is nice now that you have dropped it to just u/b.  It's just that Liliana doesn't like zombies walking around that are not under her control. ;P

[Nickadimoose]

I can always try it again, I've switched this deck to a black/white control type of zombies deck that I was going to test against a friend this weekend, I'll throw some Lilliana, The Last Hope in there! Her abilities seem pretty spot on to this kind of deck, or some type of mono black action. :] Have you had success with her?