Standard Deck Examination: Zombies [Better known as Braaaaaains]

With Dark Ascension, we got ourselves a few decent brains creatures these days and well, what better time to take a look at one of the new possibilites of standard in the form of a Braaaaains deck, you may know this as zombies, one of the classic horror trope themes, let's begin with a few example decks from various Salvation users first off.

Our first list is from the user Rage-Kage whom put together this rather impressive zombie deck featuring elements of New Phyrexia's biggest threats, Phyrexian Obliterator and Phyrexian Metamorph


Rage-Kage's Braaains Deck


Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Highborn Ghoul
4 Cemetery Reaper
2 Phyrexian Metamorph

Spells
3 Lillana of the Veil
2 Lashwrithe
4 Tragic Slip
2 Ghoulcaller's Chant

Lands
24 Swamp

Now this isn't bad to start with, but it has to be improved somehow, what if we went Black/Blue for the deck instead, Sheermadness10 decided to use a Black/Blue deck with elements of both the good zombies, plus Snapcaster Mage to recur all the really good spells of the deck, here's his list

Sheermadness10's Black/Blue Brains


Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
3 Highborn Ghoul
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Diregraf Ghoul
3 Diregraf Captain
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Phyrexian Metamorph

Spells
3 Vapor Snag
3 Geth's Verdict
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
4 Ponder
1 Gravepurge
2 Dismember

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
11 Swamp
3 Island

Now out of this deck i like the land base for it, it's actually perfect for what we need and is very similar i feel to the black/white tokens balance of the land base, what if we were to use this land base to construct a black/blue style zombies deck focused on the aggro portion, with some seriously good cards to clear the way like sheermadness did in a sense, let's just make a example list for this variant.

Aggro Zombies Variant


Creatures
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Highborn Ghoul
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Diregraf Captain
4 Gravecrawler
4 Cemetery Reaper

Spells
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
3 Dismember
2 Gravepurge
3 Lillana of the Veil

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
11 Swamp
3 Island

With this aggro variant basically our gas never stops until our opponents are dead, the notable 1 drops of the deck Gravecrawler and Diregraf Ghoul have always performed well in a pinch and a 2/2 on your first turn is usually nothing to laugh at honestly, considering you drop a Highborn Ghoul on your second turn to follow it up, meaning even if your opponent has a blocker, you always get through for maximum damage, dropping Lillana however basically ends their game since the board is constantly clear for your zombies to stumble their way through direct damage, what if though we were to use a more controlled/slower variant instead of the aggressive deck we are used to, Ben Delat of Salvation went that route at a recent FNM and 4-0'ed the event with his control zombies, here's his list.

Ben Delat's Blue/Black Brains Control


Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Phantasmal Image
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Diregraf Captain

Spells
4 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Dismember
2 Tragic Slip
2 Vapor Snag
3 Gitaxian Probe

Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Evolving Wilds
11 Swamp
1 Island

Sideboard
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Geth's Verdict
2 Flashfreeze
1 Bloodline Keeper
2 Ghoulcaller's Chant
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Tragic Slip

You will note this is the only deck that has a sideboard so far, as the previous two are variants that really didn't have much, but with Phantasmal Image you are constantly going to be copying someone's titan's, big dudes and even Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite whom seems to be making a rise in a lot of decks these days, including Wolf Run Ramp, but if we are seeing a answer to most of the main threats decks have to offer which is good, meaning one of these days it's gonna be all about the control deck once again, or so i would hope, anyways now that we have a few lists, it's time to take a look at the core cards of zombies.

Creatures


Diregraf Ghoul - 2/2 that enters tapped, sure but it costs a single black mana, probably the best common zombie out there and should be a auto 4 of in any brains build in standard these days.

Gravecrawler - You know when you constantly return to the battlefield you are one of the best creatures in the format, even for 1 black mana, sure chump, play a zombie like Diregraf, recast this, continue till they are worn down, another auto 4 of in brains.

Geralf's Messenger - I think if undying worked well enough, this would be the go to guy for the deck, sure triple black for a 2/2 undying dude, it's enter the battlefield trigger is what brains decks love though.

Diregraf Captain - If you splash blue at all in brains, this is the card to splash for, honestly what's not to like about the lord of choice, or even if your going half blue, half black, still you have 8 duals in your deck which fix it for this dude.

Cemetery Reaper - If you go mono black, this is your man, or zombie i should say, lord for mono black and is a damn good dude of choice for the late game, churns out tokens off dead creatures to boot

Highborn Ghoul - Our 2 drop for the deck, probably the only 2 drop besides Black Cat, whom can be opted in for this guy due to the cat's effect, plus it being a zombie and all.

Spells


Tragic Slip - Stuff is going to die all the time, with this being bar none the best removal in the form of a single black mana, your going to have lots of fun with this particular removal spell, consider this a 4 of in any brains build.

The rest of the deck however is completely optional, with so many good black cards to consider to use, Dismember, Lillana, even blue cards like Phantasmal Image and Mana Leak for a more control sense there are quite a few directions zombies players can take their decks out there, you just gotta know where to look, anyways that's it for me for this edition, until next time this is vergil signing off.