I continue to find new flavors of zombie decks to play. This one is a (very) budget midrange deck. Since any death deck can pose a serious zombie threat with just two cards, it leaves a lot of room to experiment. The end goal is to make something that is viable in weekend ranked. Not there yet, but for how little this deck costs, it does surprisingly well.
The Deck
Deck Code:
GU_1_1_CCcCCcHAEHAEHAFHAFCBhCBhCDSCDSIADIADIAJIAJIBQICNICNCCdCCdCCfIACIACCCeCCeIAKIAKICHICHCAgCAg
General Strategy
As mentioned, any death deck can make use of zombies with just 2 cards:
In one of my current favorite decks, I use zombies to replenish the damage I take from playing massive nether creatures. In this deck, I slow the pace down and take advantage of frontline and armor mechanics. Here, zombies help fuel cards like
These, combined with beefy creatures at 4-6 mana give us our win condition: control board and then go face.
Void Management
A midrange "big beast" deck for Death is going to play differently from Nature. A big part of that is being able to bring them back from the dead.
"Raise Dead" at 5 mana is the same price as our creatures (might as well have more creatures), but Pull the Strings gives us the ability to pull some of our best creatures back from the grave for cheap. Additionally, Vampiric Skull is another Nether that can bring our Cursed Obelisks back. I'm currently testing Skulls vs Hallowed Keepers. It's a close call, but Skulls are nethers, and Hallowed Keeper feels slightly "win more". If they shut your zombies down early, it disappoints. Meanwhile, Vampiric Skulls get you back in the game. This gives the edge (I think), as we need zombies to transform into 6/6 Netherspawns.
Also, consider running 2x Pull the Strings. You can use them on your opponent's void, and bringing back a 6/6 Moose you just Void Flashed is huge. I may drop a Wild Hog for the second one.
Armor and Frontline
Zombies spawn at the end of your turn. Nothing is more frustrating than your opponent building their board while picking off your zombies. Even just a little interference with a frontliner can change the game. The only thing better is frontline and armor, so this deck runs:
Bronze Gates are certainly not the same as they used to be, but we just need them to give us one turn for our token zombies to stick. If you won the coin toss, went first, and have board control, you don't need them. When on the back foot, though, they get the job done. Once your big creatures start falling, frontline isn't as important. They will have to focus on the large threats.
Conclusion
I'm going to continue experimenting with this during the week in Mythic. It's not a 20+ win deck, but it is super cheap. Maybe it will spark some ideas in a few of you to tweak it to greatness.