BBBRRRAAAIIINNNSSS!!!

Hello Everyone!

I haven't posted up here much recently aside from the weekly Pack to Moat updates, but last week I changed decks in Standard from Werewolves to Zombies. Not Bu Zombies that has been seeing lots of play, that would be too normal! Instead I brewed my own list for Br Zombies! I first designed the deck for CJ when he decided to start playing Magic a couple months ago. It started as Bu tempo do something with lots of 1 drops that included Delver of Secrets. As he got more cards though, CJ bought/traded for a set of Gravecrawlers and Geralf's Messengers so it actually because a real Zombies deck and the Delver + awkwardness was no longer needed. To support Messenger obviously dual lands are required, and we deemed the UB ones to be too expensive, so I put together a Br list for him. It was pretty sketchy at first and some cards could not be supported due to budget reasons (Phyrexian Obliterator), but the deck looked fine. In his first event with it, CJ went 3-1! Even though it was a fairly soft field, it still showcased promise for the deck.

In the weeks since then I have continued to refine the deck, and I played it in 2 Wednesday Night Magic events in addition to an FNM going X-1 in all of them! Here is my current version:

4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Gravecrawler
2x Fume Spitter
4x Porcelain Legionnaire
4x Geralf's Messenger
3x Cemetery Reaper
2x Phyrexian Obiterator
1x Skinrender

2x Mortarpod
3x Galvanic Blast
3x Incinerate
2x Brimstone Volley
3x Go for the Throat
1x Geth's Verdict

4x Blackcleave Cliffs
4x Dragonskull Summit
14x Swamp

Sideboard:
3x Hex Parasite
3x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Skinrender
1x Geth's Verdict
3x Manic Vandal
4x Nihil Spellbomb

As I have heard it eloquently put before: "That is aggro as piss!" Yes, yes it is. This deck plays a lot like animal RDW where all you really want to do is deal tons of danage. Let's take a look at our mana-to-power ratio on our creatures:

1 Drops:
1 power: 2
2 power: 8

2 Drops:
3 power: 4

3 Drops
2 Power: 3
3 Power: 4

4 Drops:
3 power: 1
5 power: 2

Total Mana Costs: 51
Total Power: 61

Power : Mana Cost: 1.19

Basically this means that on average were getting about 1.2 power for every 1 mana we spend on it. What this does not account for though is how Cemetery Reaper effectively has 4 sometimes 5 power because of its lord ability. Also, Geralf's Messenger deals 2 on the spot and then grows later in the game. Basically, we're going to deal a ton of damage very fast! Often times opponents will manage to pull off stabilization at around 5 or less life, which is where the blue version starts to suck because they lack the late game reach. I have had several games where I was against control and they were on the verge of complete stabelization and I had lethal burn in my hand. All I had to do was keep utapping and attacking until they finally cast ANY spell (usually it's an end of turn Forbidden Alchemy) and then they just die in response! It is VERY satifying when those games happen - you know you already have won the game, they just don't know it. I had one game against JunkWalkers where I was not able to identify what they were playing based off their mulligan to 5, so I attacked him to 5 when I had double incinerate in hand, and I just stopped attacking waiting for him to play more cards so I could tell what he was on - an option you don't have in Bu.

The sideboard has so much spice it gives Emeril Lagasse a run for his money! Let's just start at the top - Hex Parasite?? Well the decks that you want this against (mainly just control) you really don't want Fume Spitter. Sure you can still remove a counter from your messenger, but that's much more narrow than hacking and slashing any planeswalker they could play (and control decks play A LOT of planeswalkers right now).

Next in the sideboard is no less exciting - Black Sun's Zenith?! Tokens is getting more and more popular, which along with Pod decks create a ton of small dudes that aren't powerful individually but collectively they are terrifying! Black Sun's Zenith doesn't hurt you either as long as you form your game plan around it - Just play your recursive dudes and play a normal game of attacking and blocking until all of a sudden BAM! Everything dies, but all my stuff comes back. When turn goes back to you again just play a Reaper or Obliterator and ride the gravy train home!

Skinrender and Verdict are your typical tuning cards, adjusting your deck for individual threats like Geist-Delver. Manic Vandel is also very good against Delver decks, and is just an awesome tempo card as a whole. Because our deck plays like RDW, we want every card to get in as much damage as possible which gives Vandel the nod over Grudge or Crush. In my game vs Naya midrange pod, I had a Manic Vandel which was huge tempo gain by hitting his Blade Splicer token when all his other creatures were 1/1s or smaller and he had no birthing pod late in the game.

Quick Aside
{
Cemetery Reaper is SO much better than Diregraf Captain! In an open board, they both do the exact same thing - give all your zombies +1/+1. However in board stalls Captain plays like a Goblin Bombardment where Reaper plays like a Garruk Relentless! Also, and most importantly, with all the undying that is in the format Cemetery Reaper gives you an extreme edge! In my game vs midrange Pod, my board was Messenger untapped, Reaper without summoning sickness, and a couple lands. His board was infinite mana dorks and a Vorapede. He attacked his Vorapede in, and I snap blocked with Messenger. With the undying triggers on the stack I exiled his Vorapede with Reaper and then let my Messnger come back which gave me an insane board presence and helped me get very far ahead from there.

In a similar mannor, Reaper helps reduce your opponent's creatures for Moorland Haunt and obviously domnates the mirror match. One thing that is important to note though is that Reaper's ability starts by targeting a card in the graveyard before it gets exiled and you get a guy, so if your opponent has a Moorland Haunt, they can leave it and UW up every turn to deny you any Zombies from their graveyard.
}
End Aside

Finally, we come to the last card in the sideboard: Nihil Spellbomb. This card is for the mirror, and i like it much better than Surgical Extraction because it gives you the opportunity to draw a card, which I have found to be incredibly important allowing you to continually pour out threats while smothering your opponent's recursive nature.

This deck is incredibly powerful, and has been an absolute blast to play! As for matchups, I find Pod to be fairly difficult if they have a birthing pod in play, and Celestial Purge + Snapcaster Mage does work. I considered for 30 seconds playing Apostle's Blessing, but that's just not what we want to be doing here. If you really want to beat that, then you can play Surgical Extraction over Nihil Spellbomb, but one of the beauties of playing the red version is we aren't as reliant on our messengers.

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack