[EDH / Commander] Sibling bonding

[G. Moto]

Sibling bonding

Just whipped this deck up for the fun of it and thought it'd be cool to share. Let me know if it gives you any ideas.

[G. Moto]

This deck now has a new commander
Revision 3

Added/removed cards:
-1 Agent of Erebos
-1 Bone Splinters
-1 Bone to Ash
-1 Butcher Ghoul
-1 Cancel
-1 Cobbled Wings
-1 Corpse Hauler
-1 Corpse Traders
-1 Cruel Revival
-1 Curse of the Bloody Tome
-1 Dispel
-1 Divination
-1 Dreadwaters
-1 Dutiful Return
-1 Essence Harvest
-1 Evolving Wilds
-1 Farbog Boneflinger
-1 Ghoulraiser
-1 Grave Strength
-1 Haunted Fengraf
-1 March of the Returned
-1 Murder of Crows
-1 Onyx Mage
-1 Reassembling Skeleton
-1 Returned Centaur
-1 Returned Phalanx
-1 Returned Reveler
-1 Rotting Fensnake
-1 Shambling Ghoul
-1 Tome Scour
-1 Vile Rebirth
-1 Wakedancer
-1 Wall of Limbs
-1 Warpath Ghoul
-1 Zombie Goliath
+1 Advanced Stitchwing
+1 Catalog
+1 Cemetery Recruitment
+1 Compelling Deterrence
+1 Contingency Plan
+1 Crow of Dark Tidings
+1 Diregraf Colossus
+1 Drunau Corpse Trawler
+1 Ever After
+1 Forgotten Creation
+1 From Under the Floorboards
+1 Gavony Unhallowed
+1 Geralf's Masterpiece
+1 Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
+1 Ghoulsteed
+1 Gisa and Geralf
+1 Gisa's Bidding
+1 Graf Harvest
+1 Invasive Surgery
+1 Laboratory Brute
+1 Lamplighter of Selhoff
+1 Liliana's Elite
+1 Macabre Waltz
+1 Noosegraf Mob
+1 Pick the Brain
+1 Prized Amalgam
+1 Rancid Rats
+1 Rise from the Tides
+1 Rottenheart Ghoul
+1 Seagraf Skaab
+1 Shamble Back
+1 Stitched Mangler
+1 Stitcher Geralf
+1 Stitchwing Skaab
+1 Thraben Foulbloods
+1 Wailing Ghoul
-1 (SB) Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

Changed amounts:
+2 Island
-2 Swamp

[Firegriff]

Have you considered Endless ranks of the Dead or Army of the Damned?  Both would give you enormous sacable tokens, great with Grave Pact and Dictate of Erobos.

[G. Moto]

  Endless ranks of the dead is a good idea. When i build decks (especially with certain legendary creatures), I try to stick as closely to that plane as I can. That's why the majority of the cards in this deck are from Shadows over innistrad and the origin Innistrad. I like to stick to the theme and also find the utility in that world's own cards and mechanics. It makes deck building easier and keeping track of my cards a lot easier. Also IF i get my hands on certain cards then I build the deck. Most of the cards in this deck I do have so when I get around to it i'll try to fully construct this deck. I plan on doing a commander deck for all the legendary creatures that I have in this block: The Gitrog Monster, Gisa and Geralf, Ulrich of the krallenhorde, Ishkanah grafwidow, sigarda, heron's grace, and Olivia, mobilized for war. So when I'm done I'll have 6 commander decks ready for action.

[Firegriff]

Commander has been a favored format of mine for a while.  I ran a Grimgrin, Corpse-born for a while before Theaximunsar and Nekusar pilfered the blue black Commander seat from him.  That being said, Innistrad flavored cards include the first two I mentioned before, Havengul Runebinder and Relentless Dead (can a zombie deck really avoid a good spot for Relentless Dead?)  One would let you use dead cards to boost your swarm, the other would give you an abundance of graveyard recursion.  Also in the realm: Tragic Slip.  Great way to kill off big threats quickly.  Even if opponent cycles the graveyard, he will eventually run afoul of the Undead Alchemist you already have in deck to mill exiling him into 2/2 zombie tokens for you.

[G. Moto]

  It's funny that you mention that, I was just helping someone on their U/B zombie deck and we came up with an infinite loop that ALSO kills their life total while milling them out. It goes as follows: Rooftop storm, Grimgrin Corpse-Born, Diregraf Colossus, Gravecrawler, Diregraf Captain and Embalmer's Tools. The undead alchemist can be a variant in this mix and so can cellar door. Do you see how atrocious this can be in a commander deck?

[Firegriff]

Obviously.  Didn'tI say I used to run Grim Grin as a Commander?  Rooftop Storm makes Zombies free.  Cast Gravecrawler from graveyard.  Feed Gravecrawler to Grimgrin.  With Diregraf Captain, kill them with infinite damage.  With Phenax, God of Deception, mill them to death or swing Grimgrin with infinite attack and anything granting trample.  Just need to make sure he has hexproof.  Give Grimgrin Hexproof and they can't use your creatures against you (they'd become food for Grimgrin).

[G. Moto]

An infinitely strong Zombie just sounds like bad news. Do you know if there are Commander leagues or competitive EDH tournaments like standard or modern has?

[Firegriff]

My LGS has a Commander night on Thursday nights, so they are out there.  Had a group I played with at a local restaurant late on Friday night before moving, but definitely an underserved format so far.  But I enjoy the variety of decks that have resulted from a larger card pool and a limit of 1 of any non-basic land card has brought out.  I have posted a few EDH decks for public view, including Nekusar, Anafenza and Brago.  Brago is susceptable to Extinction, but has some very dangerous combinations working for him.

[G. Moto]

Nekusar is a pain to play against. Never go up against it with a discard deck.....