Heading into the Pro Tour, many teams were looking for decks that absolutely crushed Bant Company. Based on the results since then, you might think that, thus far, players have been unable to find something that dominates the Bant matchup. You’d be wrong. Back at the Pro Tour, Sam Black had found a Zombies variant that was very well-positioned against the Bant decks, but was not prepared to fight against Emrakul, the Promised End. Eric Hawkins may have found a way to adapt that deck such that it can compete against opposing Emrakuls.

U/B Zombies ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Eric Hawkins

• Creatures (26)
• 4 Cryptbreaker
• 4 Haunted Dead
• 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
• 4 Prized Amalgam
• 4 Voldaren Pariah
• 3 Distended Mindbender
• 3 Relentless Dead

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Liliana, the Last Hope

• Spells (7)
• 3 Grasp of Darkness
• 2 Dark Salvation
• 1 Collective Brutality
• 1 Ruinous Path

• Lands (39)
• 2 Island
• 11 Swamp
• 4 Choked Estuary
• 4 Sunken Hollow
• 2 Submerged Boneyard
• 1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 3 Kozilek's Return
• 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 2 Collective Brutality
• 2 Duress
• 2 Negate
• 2 Wretched Gryff
• 1 Ruinous Path
• 1 Transgress the Mind

Buy This Deck

The core of the zombie deck is the interaction between Prized Amalgam and Haunted Dead. These cards allow you to get on the board quickly, particularly in conjunction with Cryptbreaker to jumpstart the graveyard engine. From there, the deck can begin grinding out value with Cryptbreaker or chipping damage by using Relentless Dead to get in free attacks. Previous builds had used the likes of Gisa and Geralf to help keep the board cluttered and the value flowing.

Eric has abandoned that plan in favor of going a little bigger. Distended Mindbender is an awesome threat against both Bant Company and Emrakul, the Promised End decks, providing an enormous body as well as substantial disruption. There’s also the potential to utilize Voldaren Pariah. This is a card which plays well with multiple aspects of this deck, since you can madness it out with Cryptbreaker and flip it by sacrificing creatures like Haunted Dead, Prized Amalgam, and Relentless Dead. Voldaren Pariah is your functional answer to Emrakul, the Promised End since it can be played at instant speed due to its madness ability and flipped before your opponent takes your turn. It’s also an incredible haymaker against Bant Company, since it can come down as an enormous blocker that also forces your opponent to sacrifices three of their creatures. Their board may not rebuild itself, but yours definitely does.

Then there’s the spell suite to consider. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is yet another madness outlet and graveyard enabler, but also teams with Liliana, the Last Hope to give you a dominating board presence. With both Planeswalkers online, you gain an enormous edge in any creature combat, particularly when you can afford to just throw creatures away since they’ll come back later. Additionally, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy gives you the ability to rebuy efficient removal spells like Dark Salvation and Grasp of Darkness, and Liliana, the Last Hope lets you rebuy or search for valuable creatures like Jace, Distended Mindbender, and Voldaren Pariah.

The deck was already strong against Collected Company, but now it’s got the ability to fight back against Emrakul, the Promised End. The ability to get fast starts with Haunted Dead and Prized Amalgam is not to be overlooked, and the raw power of the Distended Mindbender and Voldaren Pariah top end is enough to win games on its own. This deck occupies an interesting space in this Standard format, and I can’t wait to see more of this style of Zombie midrange.