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The first time we visited Innistrad, Zombies were a powerful force in the metagame thanks to super efficient cards like Gravecrawler and powerful synergies between Geralf's Messenger and Falkenrath Aristocrat. Unfortunately, we haven’t really seen much from the tribe this time around, despite strong support like Cryptbreaker. With Saheeli Rai and Aetherworks Marvel pushing the format towards slow counterspells, it may be worth exploring this aggressive archetype a little more closely:
B/R Zombies ? Aether Revolt Standard | Zan Syed
- Creatures (23)
- 1 Distended Mindbender
- 3 Insolent Neonate
- 3 Voldaren Pariah
- 4 Cryptbreaker
- 4 Haunted Dead
- 4 Prized Amalgam
- 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
- Instants (10)
- 2 Lightning Axe
- 4 Fatal Push
- 4 Fiery Temper
- Sorceries (3)
- 3 Cathartic Reunion
- Artifacts (2)
- 2 Key to the City
- Lands (22)
- 5 Mountain
- 9 Swamp
- 4 Foreboding Ruins
- 4 Smoldering Marsh
The key to this deck is finding ways to aggressively utilize your graveyard. The key here is Prized Amalgam. This card is powerful enough that you’re willing to play it with zero ways to actually cast it. Instead, you have to find a discard outlet for both Prized Amalgam and a Scrapheap Scrounger or Haunted Dead so you can start buying back your 3/3s. The downside to this is you can have clunky starts that take a while to get off the ground. The upside is you can power through sweepers like Radiant Flames and Fumigate with relative ease.
If you’re looking to sneak in underneath the Saheeli combo and overwhelm the Green decks with a high density of efficient removal spells, then this is a great place to start. The combination of efficient creatures and removal with a graveyard engine to let you grind out midrange matchups is a great place to be right now, and I’m excited to see if Zombies can make a big run in the coming weeks.
